


Severed souls

by kellsbells



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Loss, Rejection, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-01-23 17:09:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21323704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellsbells/pseuds/kellsbells
Summary: “No. Shit. No. This can’t be happening. Don’t TOUCH me. Don’t you dare touch me. Please, just go. This has to be a mistake. I don’t want this.”This was not how it was supposed to go. Meeting her soulmate – feeling the mark burn itself into her skin – it was supposed to feel like everything in her life had been leading her to this moment. But Lena Luthor was walking away from her, her injured pilot still in the helicopter, and all Kara could feel was cold. Her soulmate – the soulmate she’d travelled across galaxies to find – didn’t want her.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 311
Kudos: 1683





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> As those of you who follow my fics might know, I've been having a few issues with my writing for the last year or so due to losing someone close to me. I do, however, have a huge back catalogue of SuperCorp fics - most of which are unfinished, but most of which are long and will take a fair amount of time to finish posting. I have recently been able to write a little more and so I'm hoping that this is the resurgence of my writing mojo or whatever. So I'm posting this first chapter for now and I would love to hear what you all think, and if you would like to see me post up any more fics in the meantime until I can finish up those fics of mine that are published but not yet done.  
Thanks  
Kellsbells

* * *

* * *

Soulmates. Kara first heard the word at school, during her first year on Earth. Of course, it was just another word among thousands where she knew the literal meaning but not the real-world meaning.

A few nights later, Jeremiah kissed Eliza’s forehead and called her his ‘beautiful soulmate’.

Later that day, Kara asked Alex what it meant. They’d come to a tentative truce, she and Alex, since her arrival. Kara would do her best to fit in, to not be ‘too weird’, if Alex would help her by teaching her earth customs. Just knowing the language was not enough.

“It’s a thing, on Earth. Every person has a perfect mate, chosen for them by fate or God or whatever. When you meet that person, you’ll get this thing – a mark, on your arm or shoulder or wherever. Sometimes it’s words, sometimes it’s a picture, sometimes it’s a name. But it hurts, it burns its way onto your skin, and whoever you touched, they’ll feel it too. That person, or sometimes it’s more than one – they’re your person, the person made to be your perfect match, and you’re theirs,” Alex said, shrugging.

“Oh. We didn’t… we didn’t have that at home. Our mates were chosen for us by a computer,” Kara said, sadly. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them to her.

“What about love?” Alex asked, curious despite herself.

“I don’t believe that was their first concern. Our match was supposed to be someone who added to our House. We would have benefited from being allied with a more military-centred family. I think I would have married a warrior,” Kara said, eyes far away.

“So, no one on Krypton loved each other?” Alex asked, aghast.

“Many did. My aunt and uncle – Superman’s parents – they loved one another very much. My parents grew to love one another after they were married. Marriages were more for companionship, I believe, than your marriages are. Sex and sexual contact was limited. I believe it was because our sun was close to the end of his life, and because the planet was dying, too, so our survival instinct was less.”

Alex blushed when Kara mentioned sex so casually.

“That’s… that’s something we don’t talk about, so openly? People will find it strange if a 13-year-old talks about sexual contact,” Alex said.

“Thank you. I apologise if I made you uncomfortable,” Kara said.

“No, it’s really kind of interesting,” Alex said, “but other kids – they always try to find people who are different, so that they can pick on them. It’s one less thing for them to consider weird.”

“Okay. Thank you, sister,” Kara said, smiling. Alex smiled back, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

“Have you met your soulmate yet?” Kara asked.

“No. A lot of people don’t meet their soulmates until they’re grown,” Alex said.

“What do you think they’ll be like? A boy, or a girl? There are only two genders on your planet, are there not?” Kara asked, curiously. Alex reddened again.

“It’s going to be a guy, of course! I’m not _gay_, Kara. What kind of a question is that?” Alex replied, her voice much higher than usual, and her cheeks bright red.

“The question of an alien who doesn’t know your customs,” Kara said quietly, eyes on her bare feet.

“Yeah, okay. Sorry. Yes, we have two genders on this planet, though some people don’t feel they fit within the gender they were assigned at birth,” Alex said, chastened. “Some people are gay, but it’s not… usual. Less than 10%,” Alex said.

“The percentage must have been much higher on Krypton,” Kara said, frowning. “Many of my people married people of the same sex. Perhaps people do not wish to be honest about their sexuality, if it is not ‘usual’ here?” Kara mused. She missed Alex reddening again.

“Yeah, maybe. Whoever they are, I hope they love us as much as mom and dad love each other,” Alex said with a sigh.

Kara fell asleep that night dreaming of two hearts joining from across the stars.

***

When Kara Danvers met Lena Luthor for the first time, the CEO was defending herself against accusations that she’d been behind an explosion on a new space transport called the Venture. The woman had an alibi, though, having been working on re-naming her company to disassociate it from the Luthor name. Kara was a little lost, standing in Clark’s shadow, but she was struck by Lena’s vulnerability and by her strength, equally. Something in that moment made her think about soulmates, and she almost – almost – reached out to shake the woman’s hand. But Clark was urging her on and she just nodded, saying, “Good day,” like an idiot secretary from the fifties. She wondered a lot, later, what would have happened if she hadn’t been in a stupid blue costume when her skin touched Lena’s. 

She didn’t have to wait long to see the Luthor woman again, however. She and Clark both heard the noise at once – a drone, military and far too big to be within National City’s limits for any good reason. They flew off at high speed, both taking numerous heavy rounds to the chest as they stopped in front of the helicopter that the drone was targeting. Without Kryptonite bullets, however, they couldn’t be hurt. The man piloting the drone gave the usual villain monologue in a dry English accent and said that there were other drones out there. Clark took off to deal with those, and Kara destroyed the one shooting at the Luthor helicopter. Only after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, of course, and leaving a huge crater in the helipad. She pulled the helicopter back to Earth, checking on the pilot, who was unconscious.

“What the hell was that?” Lena Luthor asked, grasping at Kara’s arm in shock. A tiny sliver of her skin made contact with Kara’s, and a burning, searing pain started to eat its way into Kara’s upper chest, just under her collarbone. Kara stumbled back in surprise at the pain, and Lena Luthor yanked her hand away so hard that she fell out of the other side of the helicopter.

Kara stood, moving towards the young woman – her soulmate! – to help her up, but Lena was scrambling away. When Kara stopped advancing, she stood, eyes wide in shock.

“No. Shit. No. This can’t be happening. Don’t TOUCH me. Don’t you dare touch me. Please, just go. This has to be a mistake. I don’t want this.” Lena’s eyes were wide and her heart was pounding. She turned on her heel and ran inside.

This was not how it was supposed to go. Meeting her soulmate – feeling the mark burn itself into her skin – it was supposed to feel like everything in Kara’s life had been leading her to this moment. But Lena Luthor was walking away from her, her injured pilot still in the helicopter, and all Kara could feel was cold. Her soulmate – the soulmate she’d travelled across galaxies to find – didn’t want her.

Kara took the pilot to the paramedics below, and flew off back to her apartment. Maybe it was time to try finding that alien bar she’d heard about, where they served Kryptonian-strength drinks. If she ever needed one, now would be the time.

***

Kara started when the door knocked. She went into the bathroom for something, but she’d ended up staring at her shoulder in the mirror for an hour instead.

“Kara? Are you there, Kar? Where have you been? Clark says he hasn’t seen you since those drones attacked, earlier.”

Kara went to the door, shuffling in her pyjamas. She opened the door, wilting under Alex’s gaze.

“What happened?”

“I… I met my soulmate,” Kara said, bursting into tears.

“Oh, Kara. What happened?”

Alex pulled her to the couch, kicking the door closed behind them, and pulled Kara into one of her super-tight hugs.

“What happened, sweetie?” she asked, but Kara couldn’t get the words out.

It took a while, but Kara managed to get the words out. Lena Luthor was supposed to be her soulmate but the woman was repulsed by her.

“Kara, I’m sure that’s not it. No-one could be repulsed by you. You’re beautiful…” Alex said, stroking Kara’s hair.

“They could very easily be repulsed if they hated aliens, couldn’t they?” Kara said, shrugging. “Her whole family hates us. Her brother did what he did, her mother has spoken publicly about the threat that we represent. Why wouldn’t she be xenophobic just like them?”

Alex sat back, sighing.

“I don’t know, Kara. I understand that this is a private situation, and I don’t want to get in the middle of it. But I think… I’m going to have to tell J’onn. We need to speak to Ms Luthor,” Alex said.

“I understand,” Kara said. “But just… don’t hurt her, or anything? She’s entitled to not want to be with me. If that’s all it is, leave her alone and I’ll stay as far away from her as I can.”

“Okay, honey. And for the record – if she doesn’t want to be with you, she’s an idiot, okay?” Alex said, brushing a kiss against Kara’s temple.

“Thanks, Alex,” Kara said, sinking back into her sister’s arms. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Let’s hope you never have to find out, Supergirl,” Alex said, while choosing some awful horror movie to annoy Kara with.

Kara went to sleep eventually, but the look on Lena’s face – anguish and fear – stayed with her until she drifted off.

***

Lena’s heart was thumping, and very little of her unsettled state was to do with almost being killed in a helicopter crash. Her soulmate was _Supergirl_. One of her brother’s arch-nemeses, the cousin of the Man of Steel. The woman had just stood in front of a hail of bullets for her, and when they accidentally touched, Lena’s skin almost went up in flames. There was a lot of pain, certainly, from the cosmic tattooing, but most of all her skin felt _electric_. She had a soulmate. That information was a relief in itself, that there actually was someone out there who was her person, who was her match. She could be forgiven for thinking that her luck in life was going to continue to be abysmal. After all, it was only her first week in National City and she’d already been shot at by a military drone, after barely missing out on a near-death experience on the Venture.

But to have Supergirl, of all people, as her soulmate? Was the universe just _laughing_ at her? Her brother was a mass-murdering lunatic, and had killed thousands of people in his vendetta against Superman, and Lena was almost 95% sure that her mother was involved with, if not the head of, a shadowy anti-alien government organisation of tenuous legality called Cadmus. Her mother was a doctor, and from what Lena could tell she was a good one, before the Lex incident. Why she’d chosen to put her mind to death and destruction instead of healing, Lena would never understand.

Her father, at least, was dead, so Lena could be fairly sure that he wasn’t involved in murdering aliens. Mostly.

Even with Lex in jail, he was still a huge threat to aliens. And Lillian might even be worse. So if either of them were to find out that Supergirl was Lena’s soulmate? That would end badly for everyone involved.

No. She couldn’t do this. Much as the idea of having a soulmate sounded wonderful, Lena couldn’t make contact with her soulmate, or have anything at all to do with her, because if Lex or Lillian ever found out, they would burn down the world to get to Supergirl. And Lena wouldn’t – _couldn’t_ allow that. Surely the universe would find Supergirl someone else, if Lena rejected her? If not, there were only two choices – meet her soulmate, fall in love as was inevitable, and bear the consequences, which would likely include death for Supergirl or Lena both. Or keep them apart for the sake of keeping Supergirl safe.

No matter how much that might hurt.

***

Kara ran into Lena Luthor on the way to her re-naming speech, and had to catch her breath at the sight. Rao, the woman was beautiful. When she saw Kara, she smiled, and it was so bright that it made Kara’s heart catch in her throat.

“Miss Luthor, hey!” Kara said, weakly, playing with her glasses. “It’s nice to see you.”

“And you, Miss Danvers. Are you on your way to the re-naming ceremony too?” Lena asked, beaming.

“I am,” Kara said, smiling awkwardly. It was hard to smile with Lena so close, and so much between them. So much, and nothing at all.

“So, what do you think of my attempts to turn the company around? Skeptic, or believer?” Lena asked, one eyebrow up.

“I believe you’re sincere, Miss Luthor. But I think you’re taking an awful risk, in the circumstances. I understand that your brother is trying to kill you.”

“Where did you hear that?” Lena asked.

“I have some connections. Supergirl, and FBI people,” Kara said. 

Lena blanched when she said ‘Supergirl’.

“Oh. You… you’re friends with Supergirl?” Lena asked, faintly.

“Sort of. I mean, we talk occasionally. I’m just about to leave the position, but I’ve been Cat Grant’s assistant for a couple of years, and I sort of ended up in the loop with some of the goings on in this city,” Kara said, smiling nervously.

“Did… Supergirl – did she say anything else, about any of what’s been going on?” Lena asked.

“No, why?” Kara asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry. And here we are. It’s been a pleasure running into you, Miss Danvers. Thank you for the warm welcome to National City,” Lena said, ducking her head a little.

“Of course. It was… nice to see you too,” Kara said, nodding. It _was _nice. And that made everything a million times worse. Because Lena was beautiful and caring and sweet and funny. And smart. In short, she was everything Kara could have wanted in a soulmate. But Lena didn’t want Kara, so regardless of the cosmic power behind soulmarks, they would never be together, and Kara was just going to have to accept that.

As soon as Lena began her speech, bombs started going off behind her. Her security team dragged her off, and Kara changed quickly into her supersuit. The assassin had targeted the Luthor building, too, so she and Kal-El were forced to stop it from collapsing and repair it using some handy steel girders. Once that was stable, Kara returned to the park, finding Alex in mid-fight with a man in a police uniform, presumably an assassin that Lex Luthor had hired to kill his sister. Kara wasn’t needed, thankfully, because as she was trying to persuade the assassin to let Alex go, Lena shot the man in the back.

* * *


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and J'onn talk to Lena, Cadmus rears its head, and plans are made.

* * *

Lena thanked Kara and Clark profusely when they arrived the following day, and she almost fell over when Clark Kent actually said that she had changed his mind. She threw in a little flirtatious remark to Kara, smiling at the blush that lit up her face. There was something about the reporter that called out to Lena, somehow, but she couldn’t place it. Obviously Kara was attractive, but that wasn’t it – or not all of it, anyway. Those eyes saw right into her, somehow. Lena couldn’t pinpoint what she was feeling, and that made her even more curious.

A few days later, she stood in her office watching a special news report, terrified. Superman and Supergirl were battling with John Corben, her attempted assassin, on the National City bridge. Only he wasn’t exactly John Corben, anymore. He had a large green stone embedded in his chest that shot out energy beams. Kryptonite, she guessed, the Super’s only weakness. Her heart was in her throat – after all, it wasn’t every week that you killed a person only to have them rise from the dead to attack your soulmate. She watched as Supergirl went down, face-first into the concrete, and Superman picked her up and flew off with her.

She had no idea how John Corben was still alive, let alone walking around blasting Kryptonite at the Supers, but she had a fair chance who might know about it. And yet, the idea of finding out for real was… horrifying.

She stood up, pacing, but a few minutes later a signal interrupted the television broadcast, and she didn’t even have to think hard to place where she’d heard the voice before. **“We are Cadmus.”**

_Mother. What have you done now… _

***

Alex paced up and down, her brow furrowed. How the hell had Lena found her telephone number in the first place? She was a member of a super-secret spy organisation, for the love of Christ. She kicked an errant coffee cup that had missed the wastebasket in a fury.

_“Agent Danvers, I’m sorry to bother you. There’s something I need your help with, assuming you’re the right people. The ones who work with the people in capes?”_

Lena’s voice had sounded… scared. Terrified, even.

J’onn finally arrived, his shoulders tense.

“What is it, Alex?” he asked, closing her office door behind him.

“I just had a call from Lena Luthor. God knows how she got my number,” Alex said.

“FBI switchboard. All of our agents have FBI aliases. You know this. Go on,” J’onn said.

“Okay. Well, she says that she needs our help, and that she has some information we need,” Alex said.

“And what is it that you think she wants?” J’onn asked.

“I don’t know. But… I went to see Kara a few nights ago, after the helicopter attack. Apparently Lena touched her arm after the rescue as Supergirl, and… they’re soulmates.”

“Oh. Well. That does complicate things,” J’onn said, frowning. “But there’s more to it. Spit it out.”

“Lena – she backed away, told Kara to stay away from her. She said she didn’t want anything to do with it, that it was a mistake. Kara… she is pretty heartbroken. It’s one of her favourite things about Earth, the only area in which we were arguably more advanced than the Kryptonians. They weren’t much for the romance, and here we are with the whole Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers thing, you know?”

J’onn sighed.

“I think we should go to see Miss Luthor together, Agent Danvers. I don’t want to judge her without cause, but she could be a very great threat, in her position. I do think it unlikely that anyone with a nefarious agenda would be chosen as Kara’s soulmate, though, don’t you?”

Alex shrugged. It had occurred to her, but the name ‘Luthor’ when combined with her sister’s name made her tense up and get ready to fight. She wasn’t going to let the woman hurt her sister, soulmate or not. 

A few hours later, Alex and J’onn were in Lena Luthor’s office, waiting for her to say whatever it was she had to share.

“I met Supergirl the other day, when she saved my helicopter from that drone,” Lena began, chewing a thumbnail absently.

“We are aware of that, Miss Luthor,” J’onn said, implacable in his Hank Henshaw guise.

“Oh. Did she… Never mind. The thing is, it appears that we’re soulmates. In another universe, that wouldn’t be an issue, but in this one – I’m afraid she’s going to be in danger. The kind of danger that might end her. And before you take that as a threat,” she said, noting Alex’s hand twitching towards her weapon, “please let me explain.”

“Okay,” Alex said, eyes hard.

“You know who my brother is. You know what he’s capable of, even from prison. I’m only alive because of Supergirl and Superman’s actions, and your own, Agent Danvers. If Lex realised that Supergirl was my soulmate? If you think he’s crazy now, I don’t… I can’t even imagine what he would do. And that’s not all. You’ve heard of Cadmus?”

J’onn frowned.

“Yes. We have, unfortunately. They were a sanctioned government agency at one point, but it became clear that the experiments they were doing were far beyond the pale,” J’onn said. “They’ve gone underground, now.”

“I believe my mother is their leader,” Lena said, biting her lip. “The voice on the broadcast was scrambled and altered, but I could just make it out. She is rabidly anti-alien, just as Lex is, and I have seen papers mentioning Cadmus in the L-Corp archive. I have several people running checks, finding anything that might relate to them, which I will be more than happy to hand over to you once I’ve collated them.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “So what is it you want from us, in return?”

“I want you to keep Supergirl away from me, at all costs,” Lena said.

“Why?” Alex asked, eyes narrowed.

“For all of the reasons I just listed, Agent Danvers. If they find out that we are soulmates, then they will stop at nothing to kill her or destroy her in whatever way they can,” Lena said. “We didn’t know each other before, and we don’t need to know each other now. You can’t miss what you’ve never had,” Lena said. She would have been almost believable, had she not swallowed just then, turning away.

“Even if that were true, why do you feel so strongly about keeping Supergirl safe?” J’onn asked, suspiciously.

“She doesn’t deserve any of this,” Lena burst out. “Neither does Superman. All they’ve done since they arrived is try to help people. They didn’t have to do any of that. They could have made themselves rich, taken over the world with the power that they have. Can you imagine what kind of a person it takes to do what they’ve done? Come to a new world, gain all of these powers, and use them to save human lives without asking for money or recognition? My family might think that the Supers and all other aliens are bad, that they’re going to kill us all, but I have yet to see any proof of that. Lex killed thousands of people because he was paranoid about what the Supers might do. _Might. _If he thinks one of those Supers is brainwashing his sister into a relationship, he will pull this world to pieces to get to them, and damn the consequences. You might not believe me, but I never believed in their absurd cause and I don’t want anyone to be put in harm’s way because of either of them. And if there’s anything I can do to help, information from the archives, details about LCorp holdings, you can have them.”

Alex and J’onn shared a long look.

“Okay, Miss Luthor. Leave this with us, for now, please? In the meantime, if you are in any trouble, please use this panic button and my people will be here to help. That way we should be able to manage things so that we can keep Supergirl away from you.”

Lena stared at the panic button in her hand, looking back at J’onn and Alex.

“Why would you want to do this? Why help me? If they kill me, I’m no longer a threat to you or to Supergirl. Problem solved.”

“That’s just it, Miss Luthor. I don’t think you are a threat at all. I think you’ve been completely honest, and quite frankly I find that admirable. Your desire to protect your soulmate, even at the cost of your own happiness, is unusual,” J’onn said, eyes narrow.

Lena took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Director Henshaw. And you, Agent Danvers. I think that’s everything I needed to tell you, but if there is anything else you need from me, please don’t hesitate to call. Anything in our archives concerning Cadmus will be yours in a few days.”

They shook hands, Alex watching Lena carefully. On the drive back to the DEO, they were silent until they reached the underground parking garage.

“Did you read her?” Alex asked.

“I did. Surface thoughts, only. If she has fooled me, she is either a liar the likes of which I have never seen, or she knows I am psychic and knows some way to counteract it. Given that I’m over 400 years old and have never heard of that sort of skill, I believe she is sincere, and an ally,” J’onn said.

Alex breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Okay. So what do you think we should do now?”

“I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it,” J’onn said.

He was right. Alex didn’t like it one bit.

***

Lena’s hard-working team managed to put together a comprehensive list of holdings that had, at one point or another, been used by Cadmus, as sponsored by LuthorCorp. LuthorCorp had been ridiculously generous to Cadmus, bankrolling them to the tune of billions of dollars. There were records of experiments that made Lena wince when she saw them. When she cross-matched some of these ‘experiments’ with reports of missing humans and off-worlders, it became nauseatingly clear what Cadmus had done to those unfortunate souls.

Lena called another meeting with Alex Danvers and Director Henshaw, to pass on the information and to offer to help by investigating the warehouses and labs that used to belong to Cadmus. To her surprise, the agents were accompanied by a tall, dark-haired woman who seemed to be fond of the Director.

“Agent, Director? It’s lovely to see you again. And you are?” Lena asked, holding out a hand.

The woman took it, a little reluctantly, but when she touched Lena’s skin she sighed, relaxing.

“M’gann Morzz,” she said, nodding her head.

“Please. Everyone, sit down.”

When everyone had been served coffee and water, Lena banished Jess with a smile and handed over the information she’d found, both on a thumb drive and on paper.

“These are the facilities I’ve found that Cadmus used at one point or another. According to our records, they’re all abandoned. I’d imagine that’s true for some of them, because otherwise we are looking at a massive organisation, much larger than I’d anticipated, in any case. I would like to offer my help in investigating these facilities. LCorp has a several security companies on the payroll to protect holdings in less secure areas of the world. I’d be more than happy to use some of them to find out what’s in those facilities,” Lena said. “How you want to do it is up to you, of course. I just want to be sure to weed out Cadmus from LCorp entirely, and I’m willing to help in whatever way I can.”

“Are you sure you want to get involved in that, Miss Luthor? You might be relatively safe now, but if you antagonise them, it might not just be your brother who’s trying to kill you,” Director Henshaw said.

“If I carry on as things are now, I’ll never break this company free of my family’s influence. I mean what I say, Director. I want to turn LCorp around and make it into a force for good. They have done so much wrong and while I had nothing to do with all of that, I want to try to make the name Luthor mean something positive in future. If I can’t manage that, I’ll take it to pieces and sell every last piece to the lowest bidder.”

Alex Danvers looked at her steadily, not blinking, but she looked… impressed, perhaps?

“You know, all of this would be a lot easier with Supergirl in the loop,” Alex said, eyes narrowing.

“Maybe. But it wouldn’t be safe for her, would it?” Lena asked, flatly.

“No. But that is her choice to make, too, Miss Luthor,” Alex pointed out.

“There are two people involved in the soulmate bond, Agent Danvers, and I have no interest in entering into a relationship that could end up in the death of the other person. Especially not when the other person is Supergirl, of all people. I’m sure I could go out there right now and call for her, and she’d come here, and maybe we’d be deliriously happy together, but sooner or later she would end up dead, and I’d be the Luthor whose name would go down in history, because I would be the reason Supergirl was gone from a world that needs her. I reacted in panic when the soulmark came through, I admit, but I didn’t contact you on a whim, Agent Danvers. I’m sorry if my decision to stay away hurts Supergirl. But this is how things have to be,” Lena said, resolute. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn’t even let herself think about a relationship with Supergirl, about what it might look like, because she couldn’t have that, and even dreaming of it might be the end of her.

M’gann, of all people, reached over and took Lena’s hand, squeezing it.

“I understand, Miss Luthor,” Alex said. “Thank you for being so honest.”

Lena nodded, jaw tight.

“We will take this information away, Miss Luthor, and work out how best to approach this list of possible Cadmus facilities. We may very well need some assistance from your security people, because we do have a job to do other than cleaning up your brother’s mess. But I, for one, am glad to have you on board,” Director Henshaw said. “Now, to the difficult part. Supergirl is… heartbroken, following your meeting when Corben attacked you with a drone. I don’t think she’ll be able to help herself – she will contact you again. I don’t want you to be unpleasant – for Supergirl’s sake, I beg you not to be – but I suggest you let her down gently and tell her that while you don’t hold anything against her, her cousin ruined your family’s life and you can’t foresee any future in which you’d be comfortable with her. If she comes back after that, I suggest a restraining order, at which time we will also outfit your home and office with kryptonite emitters. Nothing strong enough to hurt her, but enough that it will make her uncomfortable and, more importantly, make her realise that you’re serious.”

Alex Danvers was scowling, and Lena was surprised to find that she, herself, was frowning.

“Isn’t that… a bit harsh?” Lena asked, troubled. She didn’t want to hurt the woman.

“It is. But I know our superhero, and she’s not going to take no for an answer. She believes in the soulmate bond fiercely. If you can make her truly believe that there is no interest on your part, I believe she’ll back away. To circumvent any arguments about your safety, I have asked M’gann here if she’ll take a job as your bodyguard for the foreseeable furture,” Director Henshaw said.

“Oh. I… are you some sort of martial arts specialist, then?” Lena asked.

M’gann chuckled.

“Not exactly, Miss Luthor. For the sake of full disclosure, and to avoid frightening you in future, I should tell you that I am an alien. I am not registered, or at least not yet, but the DEO, for some reason, trusts me. I only hope I can live up to that trust,” she said, smiling at Director Henshaw, who smiled back.

“Oh,” Lena said. She was a little taken aback. “I didn’t know there were other aliens living here on Earth, aside from Supergirl and Superman.”

“There are many of us, Miss Luthor. Some are refugees, some lost their homes and their planets the way that Supergirl and her cousin did. Some fled war, and some have just come here to live somewhere a little simpler. I know that some visitors to the planet have been less than pleasant, but those are very much in the minority,” M’gann said, eyes crinkling with amusement.

“Could I… would you mind showing me what you look like?” Lena asked, hesitantly. “I don’t want to have a heart attack if you’re trying to save me from an attacker. It would sort of defeat the purpose, don’t you think?”

“Okay,” M’gann said. “Don’t be afraid, please. I look… we’re not the prettiest species, to your human eyes. But I’m still me,” she said, squeezing Lena’s hand again reassuringly.

Lena nodded, swallowing. M’gann stood, pushing her chair back, and her outline shimmered, body criss-crossed in red. She shot up in height, and had Lena not been warned, she would have shrieked. M’gann was a little… monster from a 60’s monster movie-ish. 10 feet tall, at least, with huge jaws with rows of small, sharp teeth and claw-like hands, powerful muscles and white skin.

“I told you we aren’t the most photogenic to humans,” M’gann said. “But I’m still me. In this form or another, I can fly, phase through solid objects, read minds, hear and see for miles. Most of Supergirl’s powers and some others.” Her voice was distorted, deeper, in her natural body, but she still sounded more or less the same.

“Okay. I feel safer already,” Lena said, smiling. M’gann shrunk back into her human form, and Lena sighed a little in relief.

“If it makes you feel any better, you humans freaked the shit out of me when I got here, too,” M’gann said. Lena laughed, surprised.

“Why would you want to protect me, M’gann, if you don’t mind me asking? I am fairly sure that the alien community aren’t very fond of anyone with my name,” Lena asked, when she’d stopped laughing.

“I was fairly indifferent, Miss Luthor, I will admit. If it were your brother, I’d have told Director Henshaw to go to hell. But you’re a different proposition. As soon as I touched your hand, I could feel that you had no bad intentions,” M’gann said. “I didn’t read your mind or anything, but I could sense how you were feeling on the surface. I can tell that you’re a strong person and that what you say, you mean. You might not necessarily do things the way others would prefer, and you have little regard for your own life, but you do want to make LCorp into something positive, regardless of whether it actually makes a cent or not.”

Lena shivered a little.

“I’m sorry. It’s just… the idea that you can see what I’m thinking, it… “

“Horrifies you? I can imagine,” M’gann said, chuckling. “Where I was born, we communicated telepathically. There was no such thing as a secret. When I landed on earth, I had to re-learn how to communicate, and learn what lies were, and why people kept secrets. Believe me, I have a healthy respect for your privacy, Miss Luthor. If you want, I can teach you some shielding techniques that will keep all but the most determined telepaths out of your mind.”

“I think I’d like that,” Lena said, relieved. Her brain was suddenly teeming with ideas about how telepathy worked and how she could go about finding a way to block it. And whether M’gann might let her take some blood and tissue samples to help with the alien detection device she’d been developing.

M’gann laughed.

“Cool your jets, Luthor. We’re not there yet,” M’gann said, but her smile was warm, and Lena couldn’t help but return it.

“Maybe someday?” she asked hopefully. M’gann snorted.

***


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara disagree about Lena's alien detection device, Lena asks Kara for a favour, and Maggie is upset by Alex's decision to interfere in Kara and Lena's relationship

Kara was floating several miles up, looking across at the Aurora Borealis, which appeared to be just under her feet. She swore that when she concentrated she could hear the Aurora sing, a high-pitched keening as if it were mourning.

Kara felt like _she_ was in mourning. She’d spoken to Alex, who was sympathetic at the beginning, but quickly grew hard about the whole thing.

“Kara, the soulmate bond is something that has to be agreed between the two parties in question. It’s a way to make things easier for us to find someone we love. Not to force someone to get to know us if they don’t want to. Try and put yourself in her shoes. Her whole family went crazy over aliens in general and your cousin in particular. She had a home, and then her brother committed mass murder and her mother turned out to be some sort of a freaky Dr Frankenstein. I know it’s hard, Kara, but… she doesn’t owe you a thing.”

Kara stared back at her, and Alex shrugged apologetically, but it was clear she thought Kara should let it go. Kara just didn’t understand, though. When she landed on Earth, the soulmate thing was the only part of human culture, of human life, that she liked better than on Krypton. Matricomp wasn’t exactly romantic. This tradition of touching another person to find that they were the person meant to be your one true love – it was something that resonated deeply with her romantic nature.

To add insult to injury, Alex had just met Maggie Sawyer, the NCPD detective, and a handshake had proved them to be soulmates. Kara had congratulated Alex, took her out for dinner and drinks with as many of the Superfriends as she could muster, and went home and cried herself to sleep.

By the next time she saw Lena Luthor, she had made a decision. She would let it go if Lena would just explain to her why she didn’t want to at least _explore_ the fact that the universe or the gods or whoever had designated them to be soulmates. If she could come up with a compelling reason, then Kara would drop her lifelong dream of finding a real, true partner; a love that would complete her.

Mon-El, the douche-y alien who’d landed in a Kryptonian pod a while back, had disappeared. Ordinarily, Kara wouldn’t worry too much. He was a giant fratboy with virtually no redeeming features whatsoever, as far as she was concerned. A little investigation, and the subsequent disappearance of J’onn, proved that something deeper was going on. Maggie, Alex’s new soulmate, was able to find out from one of her alien contacts that there was an alien fight club in circulation that forced alien fighters into slavery. And it catered to the hyper-rich.

Kara went to L-Corp and asked Lena’s secretary if she was okay going in. The girl tried to obstruct her, so she may have used a tiny bit of super-speed just to get into the office.

“Miss Luthor, I’m so sorry to burst in but I really need your help,” Kara said.

Jess protested.

“Miss Luthor, I don’t know how she got past me,” Jess said, glaring at Kara. “She’s so fast!”

“It’s all right, Jess. In fact, would you make a note downstairs that Kara Danvers is to be allowed straight into my office wherever possible?”

Jess stared from Lena to Kara, mouth hanging open.

“That’ll be all, Jess,” Lena said, eyes narrowing just a touch. Jess scurried out.

“I really am sorry, Lena. It’s just… it’s time-sensitive, and you’re the only person I can think of who might be able to help.”

“Okay, Kara. What’s wrong?” Lena asked, leaning back on her desk.

Kara took a deep breath. She was finding it hard not to throw herself at Lena’s feet, to beg the woman to give her a chance. And Lena’s slight flirting with her ‘friend’ Kara wasn’t helping.

“I… there’s a friend of mine, and…”

“Oh, a friend?!” Lena asked, one eyebrow cocked. She looked very amused.

“No, it’s not… I mean an actual friend. An alien, to be clear. There’s this fight club that caters to people in your… circles?” Kara adjusted her glasses, fingers shaking. “He’s been missing for a few days, and we think he might have been taken. I don’t suppose you know someone called Veronica Sinclair, do you?”

Lena’s body language changed. Now the amusement wasn’t genuine. She was uncomfortable, but trying to pretend she wasn’t.

“Yes, I know Roulette,” she said. “We went to boarding school together. Never was much of a fan.”

There was much more to it all, that was for sure. But if she knew where they were keeping Mon-El and J’onn….?

“I was hoping you might know where she’s staging her fight club,” Kara said.

“Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it? She keeps it mobile. But I do happen to have the address for the next one. She keeps trying to get me to attend but I’ve never gone to any of her events, not since school. She’s just like the snakes she has tattooed all over her. Completely untrustworthy, and liable to turn on you without notice.”

Lena’s jaw was tight, and Kara wondered what had happened between her and ‘Roulette’. Jealousy blazed in her chest, and she gritted her teeth.

“Hey, are you okay, Kara?” Lena asked, a hand on her arm. It sent shivers through Kara.

“Yeah. I just… I really don’t like that woman. She… she doesn’t care who she hurts. She has someone I care about. I’m really worried,” Kara said, head down.

“Is there anything I can do? Is someone looking into the disappearance, other than you?”

“Yes,” Kara said. “Supergirl and the agency she works for, they’re looking into it.”

Lena froze.

“Supergirl. Right. I keep forgetting you know each other,” Lena said, stepping back and moving behind her desk. She tapped briskly on the computer keyboard and wrote down the address of the next fight club on a post-it, which she then handed to Kara.

“Thank you, Lena. I really appreciate your help.”

“What are friends for?” Lena asked, smiling. The flirting was back, and Kara couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the way Lena bit her lip. “And I know you’ll be here for me, when the time comes.”

“Of course,” Kara said, smiling tightly. She swallowed. “I should go, Miss Luthor. Thank you again.”

Lena nodded, standing by her desk until Kara left. Her dark gaze stayed in Kara’s mind through the debacle with the fight club, with J’onn and Mon-El being returned to the DEO to heal up from their fights, and later, when she was in bed wishing that she wasn’t so alone. Their champion fighter had kicked her ass, and it had taken all of Kara’s strength to go back there a second time, but she did, and she talked the fight club aliens into giving up Roulette. Roulette, who had just been released from police custody anyway. Kara wondered why she worked so hard to do good when it seemed like people like Roulette did what they wanted and got away with it. Why bother, when her soulmate didn’t even want her? What was the point of landing here, coming all the way from Krypton to Earth, only to be turned away by Kal-El, who was too busy for her, and then by her soulmate because she was an alien? What was _wrong_ with her?

It took her hours to sleep, her mind turning everything over and over. When she did sleep, she dreamed of Lena’s smile, the real one that she occasionally graced Kara with, and she woke early with tears streaming down her face.

***

Kara interviewed Lena again the following day, ostensibly to talk about Lex and his legacy, and how Lena intended to turn things around. The next thing she did, however, was to present Kara with a small device.

“What is that?” Kara asked, cautiously.

“It’s an alien detection device.” Lena demonstrated. “You put your finger on the pad, it does a simple skin test, and… voila. That’s what a negative response looks like,” Lena said, her smile a little on the smug side. “Here, you try.”

“Don’t you… don’t you think that this is like, against everything that America stands for? Like freedom and justice? This country was built by immigrants. What gives you the right to do this? To throw a spotlight on people who are in hiding for good reasons?” Kara paced up and down, furious, but she tried to contain her temper. 

“This has always been a country of humans, Kara. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making a device that can confirm whether someone is who they say they are,” Lena said, body stiffening.

“Yeah, well, just because a thing can be made, doesn’t mean it should. What possible good can this do? If you sell this to people, and they get paranoid, Rao only knows what might happen. Will a person have to show their papers to get from one place to another, like in Nazi Germany? I… I think you need to think about this a little more, Miss Luthor. Because from where I stand, that’s where this is heading.”

Lena was astonished.

“Is that really what you think of me?”

“I don’t know what to think, right now. I’ll give you some examples of the aliens that have sought refuge on this planet, Miss Luthor. First, there’s Superman (and his cousin, since they came here for the same reason). Their home planet was destroyed and their parents sent them to somewhere they’d be safe. Another example is the last one of a species who have been hunted to death by another species. Watched his family burn. So he runs away, finds something useful to do, and tries to protect his new home so that no-one does to them what was done to his own people. The majority of aliens on Earth have those sorts of reasons for being here, Lena. I can count on two hands the aliens who have come here to attack. The ones who live here and haven’t caused any trouble number in the thousands. And who was it who turned the dangerous ones away? Supergirl or Superman or maybe your nameless third alien. And you want to throw every alien on this planet under the bus for the sake of the actions of a few? I thought that I understood you, Lena. I thought that you really meant well. But this does not say ‘benevolent CEO’. This says ‘Lex Luthor’s little sister follows in brother’s footsteps.’”

Kara realised she was almost shouting, and stepped back just as a hand closed on her shoulder.

“Miss Danvers, I think you’ve made your point.”

The hand belonged to a statuesque lady with dark hair and haunted eyes. She was strong, though – almost as strong as Kara, she realised, as she flexed her shoulder in the woman’s grip.

“Who are you?” Kara asked, looking at the woman curiously. She wasn’t human, that was for sure.

“This is my bodyguard, Megan Morse. She came to work for me when my brother – you know, the man whose footsteps I’m following in? - when he tried to have me killed,” Lena said, flatly. She was looking at Kara as if Kara had just spat in her face.

“Wow. I’m so sorry, Miss Luthor. It’s just… I didn’t expect this from you. I don’t expect you to be completely pro-alien, of course. I know you must have had bad experiences with aliens after what Lex did. But this just… makes my skin crawl, Miss Luthor. Perhaps if it was being used for medical purposes, for saving lives? But this just smacks of… xenophobia and hatred. But I didn’t mean to shout. I’m very sorry.”

Kara looked down at her hands, where her fingers were shaking.

“It’s fine, Kara. Maybe we can talk about this another time. I need to get on with my day,” Lena said, cautiously.

“Thank you,” Kara breathed. She picked up her bag and notebook and walked out ahead of ‘Megan’.

“Who are you?” Kara asked, when the elevator door closed.

“M’gann M’orzz. Reformed White Martian. I was assigned here by your boss, J’onn. He believed Miss Luthor would be in further danger and since she refused to allow you to help her, he believed it was necessary to get my assistance,” Megan said, shrugging apologetically.

Kara squeezed the bridge of her nose, hard. What the hell had she done to deserve to be treated this way?

“And _can_ you take care of her?” Kara demanded, after a moment.

“I’m stronger than a Green. So, yes,” M’gann said, amused.

“Okay. Well, you take care of her for me, okay? She’s my soulmate and I… if she doesn’t want me around then someone needs to look after her.”

“I will, Kara Zor-El. I promise.”

Kara left, ducking into an alleyway and speeding north at just under Mach 1. She screamed the whole way to the Fortress, and when she arrived she fought at double-speed with two training holograms at once, almost blowing out her powers in the process. She slouched back home to National City hours later at half speed. Her return went unnoticed, her sister too wrapped up with her new soulmate, and her friends – unknown to her – out patrolling the city as vigilantes. There was no-one to hear her cry herself to sleep. It might have made her feel better, however, if she’d known that the person causing the turmoil in Kara’s heart was also wrapped up in her bed, crying herself to sleep. And if she’d known that the reason for Lena Luthor’s pain was Kara, herself.

***

Kara finished the last line of her article with a flourish. She had held nothing back, asking the reader if they should be trusting someone with the last name Luthor when they approached bearing devices like the Alien Detection Device. However, when she turned it in, Snapper read it and threw it back at her in disgust.

“Ponytail, no-one gives a tiny rat’s ass about your opinion on the Luthor’s device. I want clear, concise information. Zero adjectives. Bring me back something useful or you lose your chair.”

Snapper turned his back on her, getting back to whatever he’d been doing before, and Kara sighed. She really believed what she was saying. Lena’s idea – maybe it could be used for good reasons. For the NCPD Science division, for example, when they were looking for an alien shapeshifter or one who could just pass for human. Or a medical device. But as presented, it was just a device that could and would cause a division in communities. If someone asked you to prove that you weren’t an alien, were you obliged to? And if you refused to be tested, what would be the consequences? Humans killed other humans every five minutes over nothing at all. There was no way that it could end well for aliens _or _humans.

It was just then that Kara received a call from Alex, urging her to get downtown to stop a bank robbery. Kara ducked out of CatCo and into an alley before speeding off. She landed outside the bank, finding a group of men with strange, alien weapons that could hurt her. Well, not hurt her, exactly. But they did knock her down, and there were few things that could do that to a Kryptonian on this planet. The thieves got away, and James’ camera – the one his father had left to him – was destroyed. James was heartbroken, but Kara couldn’t offer him anything but sympathy.

Kara went home to rest, waving away Alex’s offer of a few hours on the sun beds, and she made herself a super-ice-cream sundae with tonnes of peanut butter cups and chocolate sauce, sitting on the couch with some sort of Kardashian show on in the background, to demonstrate just how thoroughly down she was.

She was about halfway through her sundae when there was a knock at her door. She pushed down her glasses, swearing under her breath when she saw who it was. Lena fucking Luthor. What the hell was she doing here?

Kara stood, reluctantly, and opened the door, looking at Lena with flinty eyes.

“Miss Luthor. What can I do for you? I don’t remember telling you where I live.”

Lena winced.

“Look, Kara. I know we sort of got off on the wrong foot, with the alien detection device, and I wanted you to know that you’re right. There are some serious downsides to the device, and I’ve taken it back to the drawing board. You gave me some ideas about improving it, and so has Megan.”

Kara stood, not sure what to do, and Lena moved one hand slightly.

“Could I… could I come in for a moment?” Lena asked, biting her lip the way she did when she was uncertain.

“Sorry, of course,” Kara said, sighing quietly. “Where’s your watchdog?”

“She had to check on a bar she runs. She actually told me to invite you, said it might be your sort of place. Weirdly, she said no to me going anywhere but to the bar or here. She must trust you,” Lena said, making her way past Kara and sitting on the edge of the seat, gingerly.

Kara sat down next to her, not too close, and picked up her ice cream again. She would normally offer a guest a drink, but she wanted her ice cream and she had a shitty morning already, what with being thrown through several buildings by alien energy weapons.

“So, what is it you needed from me?” Kara asked, in between mouthfuls of ice cream.

Lena was watching her shovel the food in with barely-veiled fascination.

“Um… yes. I’m sure you saw the news, about that gang with their alien weaponry? Unfortunately the Children’s Hospital was badly damaged when Supergirl was thrown into it by one of the weapons. I’m arranging a gala on Friday – a benefit, for the hospital. I was hoping that… I know this is probably completely pathetic, but I think you’re my only friend in National City. I was hoping you’d accompany me, to the gala? I know that most people who come will be there wanting me to fail. It would be nice to know someone was on my side, even a little.”

“And you think, after the way I spoke to you, that I am on your side?” Kara asked, eyes wide.

“I think you were mad about something, and rightly so. I hadn’t thought it through. I still think that there are alien threats out there, but any technology I invent… you were right. I need to think about whether it needs to be made, not just if it can be made.”

Her eyes were so wide and sincere that Kara just wanted to kiss her, and tears filled her own eyes when she remembered the complexity of their relationship to one another. She should have said no, she knew, because if Lena knew who she was, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Kara.

“Look, Lena… I really think you’re great, with the stuff you’re doing with your company, but I’m not sure a rookie reporter is who you should be seen with. I’m sure your family would agree, and your Board of Directors,” Kara said, wiping her tears away quickly, in the hopes that Lena hadn’t seen them.

“Screw the board. Screw my family. You’re a really nice person, Kara, and you’re one of the few people I’ve ever met who’s been honest with me when they disagree with me.”

“Lena…” Kara tried, putting a hand up.

“Kara, please…” Lena turned her ‘sad eyes’ on Kara. “I could really use a friend.”

Kara sighed. “Okay, fine. Whatever you need, Lena.”

“Thank you, Kara,” Lena said, her smile triumphant. Kara shook her head. Taken in by a pretty face and sad eyes. She needed to toughen up.

“Sure. Where and when?” Kara asked.

Lena handed her an invitation.

“Wear something nice. I’ll see you Friday, Kara.”

Lena stood, shooting a flirtatious smile over her shoulder, and Kara waited until she’d left, putting a cushion over her face and screaming into it.

This was going to be a nightmare.

She spent the rest of the day re-writing her article, and this time Snapper deemed it satisfactory.

“That’s more like it, ponytail. Facts, not opinions. We’re here to tell the news, not tell people what to think.”

Kara beamed at the praise, and Snapper sneered at her sourly. She ignored him. He couldn’t take it back, now, so she left him, smiling.

That night Kara had a text message from Maggie, of all people, asking her to come to an address at 8pm if she wanted to try some alien drinks. Kara shrugged and went on patrol, replying from high above the clouds, and she wondered idly if this was the same place that M’gann had been talking about. Did Lena know her bodyguard was an alien? And if she did, why was she okay with that and not okay with Kara being Supergirl? Was it because of Kara’s species, or because of Lex and Kal’s conflict? Either way, how could Lena let this opportunity slip through her fingers? Was she just so used to the Luthors and their ways that she’d prefer to be alone for the rest of her life? Kara couldn’t understand it, but then, she’d had enough isolation to last several lifetimes.

Kara turned up at the address Maggie had mentioned about 5 minutes late, face filled with potstickers.

“Where the hell have you been?” Alex asked, swatting her on the ass. “Have you been eating potstickers?”

“I’m stress-eating,” Kara grumbled.

“Well, come on, Little Danvers. Let’s get you some alcohol for that Kryptonian constitution of yours. That might help with the stress,” Maggie said, with a wide smile.

Maggie knocked at a non-descript door and whispered a password through the hatch. Kara smiled. It was like an old-style speakeasy! They moved inside the bar, which was large enough not to feel claustrophobic despite the lack of windows. They sat, and Maggie called over a server.

“Hey, Darla. Is M’gann in tonight?” Maggie asked.

The sour-faced barmaid glared.

“She’s doing some sort of bodyguard detail for someone,” Darla shrugged. “What do you want, Sawyer?”

“Drinks, Darla. Just drinks and a quiet place to spend the evening with my friends and my soulmate.”

‘Darla’ glared harder, staring at Alex and Maggie’s joined hands.

“Fine. What do you want?”

Alex and Maggie ordered beers, and Maggie ordered Kara an Aldebaran rum.

“I’ve got a whole list of which ones M’gann thought might work on you.”

The drinks arrived, and Kara sipped some of the foul-tasting liquid. She couldn’t understand why humans insisted on drinking stuff that smelled like jet fuel.

“So, what’s bothering you, little sis?” Maggie asked, putting an arm around Kara’s shoulders. She was a sweet woman, and Kara was so pleased that she was Alex’s soulmate. The idea of soulmates, however, was liable to pitch her right over the edge into a sobbing mess, so she took a deep breath.

“I met my soulmate,” Kara said.

Maggie hugged her, screeching down her ear.

“Oh my god, Kara! Congratulations! Alex? Did you know about this?”

Alex nodded, face blank.

“Oh. Hang on, what’s going on here?” Maggie asked, moving out of Kara’s personal space and looking from Alex to Kara. “Soulmates are usually a good thing. Is your soulmate sick? Dying?”

“No,” Kara said, taking another sip of the horrible liquid. It was starting to warm up her insides. “She doesn’t want to be my soulmate. Supergirl’s soulmate, I mean. She seems to like Kara Danvers just fine, judging from the amount of flirting she keeps doing. She turned up at my apartment earlier and asked me to be her plus one to this Charity Gala thing she’s throwing for the Children’s Hospital. Sometimes it seems like she’s nothing like her family, and then other times it’s like – she’s developing this thing, an alien detection device, that just seems like something her brother would have come up with.”

“Jesus, Kara. I’m so fucking sorry. Alex, how come you didn’t talk to me about this?” Maggie asked.

“I just… I thought it wasn’t my place,” Alex said. She didn’t look right, though. She looked like Agent Danvers, not Alex, not Kara’s sister and best friend. Kara sighed and took another, longer sip of the rum.

Things went a bit… swishy, after that. Kara briefly remembered trying to fly off and Alex and Maggie dragging her back to earth.

“I wan’ talk t’Lena!” she protested.

“Sweetie, if you talk to her in this state, you’ll scare her off for good,” Maggie said, soothingly. “You’re gonna want to talk to her when you’re at your best, Little Danvers, trust me. She’ll come around. She’d be crazy not to.”

“I like you, Maggsss. You’re a nice lady. I miss my Alex, but I like you. She smiles when you’re around. And you have cute dimplesss.”

Kara kissed Maggie on the cheek noisily and passed out. Her sudden dead weight brought both women to their knees.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Danvers. How much does she weigh?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Alex sighed, as she tried to extricate herself from the tangle of limbs she was caught up in. “She refuses to tell me. It’s at least twice what a human her size would weigh – her molecular density is so much higher than ours. It’s part of the reason she’s so strong.”

“So, what’s the deal with you not telling me about this, Alex? Because I know your game face, and that was your Agent Danvers game face right there,” Maggie said, hoisting Kara’s arm over her shoulder.

“I… it’s top secret, Mags. I can’t talk about it. Just suffice it to say that there’s a very good reason why the Luthor woman told Supergirl to stay away from her.”

“Did she do something to hurt her, Alex? Because I know that it’s your place, being the sister and all, but I will happily fuck her up if she hurts Kara,” Maggie said, jaw tightening.

Alex looked at her, startled.

“No. It’s not like that. She’s trying to protect her,” Alex said. “I can’t talk about it, okay? But just… I’m trying to protect her, too. But if you can… if you could be around to talk to her, I’d appreciate it. I can’t talk to her about it, knowing what I know, but she’d probably appreciate someone who’s just there to listen and support.”

“Okay, Alex. I trust you, but… soulmates are a big deal, babe. You shouldn’t go messing with a bond like that. It’ll destroy her. It’ll destroy them both.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Alex said. Maggie shook her head.

They dragged Kara to Maggie’s squad car, strapping her up in the back so that she couldn’t find a way out, and they drove back to her apartment.

“Thank god for elevators,” Maggie said, taking short, shallow breaths as she held Kara’s weight up.

“Yeah,” Alex said, wiping away sweat from her forehead.

They got Kara settled in her bed and just as Alex was about to leave, Maggie touched her arm.

“I think we should stay here tonight, Alex. She needs people around her. If she loses her soulmate… she’s never going to be the same. Never. If she’s going to have any sort of life without the Luthor girl, she needs her friends and family around her,” Maggie said.

“I can’t, Mags. She knows I’m hiding something, and I can’t… I can’t talk to her about any of this. You have to trust me, Mags. Whatever else Lena Luthor might be, whatever she is – she turned Supergirl away to protect her.”

“She might think that, Alex. But I know a little bit about what happens when soulmates turn each other away. My mom… she just wasted to nothing. She never really knew my dad. He slept with her, and she thought that meant that he accepted their soulmate bond, but once he had what he wanted, he left. She was dead for a long time on the inside before we buried her, Alex. I don’t want that for your sister. And if Lena Luthor is any sort of a decent human being, I don’t want that for her, either. If she’s a good person and if they’re meant to be together, then no-one should interfere. If you love your sister, Alex, you think about this. Think about it for a long time before you let this happen.”

Alex stared at her.

“I can’t… I can’t, Mags. I have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect Supergirl from threats. Lena Luthor is, indirectly, a threat. So I’ll do what I have to.”

Maggie took a deep breath.

“Just think about it, Alex. There’s more than one way for a person to die. And Kara – hasn’t she lost enough?”

There was a beat of silence, and Alex wrung her fingers together.

“I’ll think about it. But I’m staying away for now, Mags. She doesn’t need to know what’s going on. She’ll just try to stop us and she’ll end up dead.”

“Fine. I’m staying right here. She got drunk and cried about losing her soulmate, and I’m not leaving her like that,” Maggie insisted. _‘And neither should you,’_ remained unspoken.

Alex nodded and kissed Maggie, a quick peck, before leaving. Maggie sighed. Why did people insist on thinking they knew better than whoever had come up with soulmarks? There were a few aberrations out there when it came to soulmates, like her idiot father, who never should have been matched with anyone. But 99.9% of the time, soulmates stayed together for life. That kind of romantic certainty was unheard of before the soulmarks began to appear. Maggie held them sacred, and she couldn’t believe that her own soulmate didn’t feel the same way and was actually willing to meddle with a match.

Maggie checked in on Kara, who was snoring, and made herself a cup of chamomile tea. She meditated for a while and, after one final check on Kara, fell asleep on the couch, wrapped up in a sweet-smelling blanket.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Maggie bond, and the night of the gala arrives

* * *

Kara woke the following morning with a splitting headache. She felt like someone was burying a red-hot knife in her brain.

“Come on, Little Danvers. Stand out in the sun for a minute. Alex says that should take care of your hangover,” Maggie’s voice was quiet and soothing.

“Thanks, Maggie,” Kara muttered, allowing herself to be dragged to the nearest window. A few minutes later she was feeling much better, her head clear and her pain nearly gone.

“I wish I could do that,” Maggie said, from inside the kitchen. She was cooking a whole heap of breakfast foods, and Kara’s stomach growled at the scent.

“I wish I’d never drank that stuff. Did I do anything embarrassing? I don’t remember,” Kara said, dragging herself to the table and smiling as Maggie piled food on her plate.

“Nothing embarrassing. You were just a little down, with this whole soulmate situation. Which is understandable. So I told Alex I’d stay with you this morning – she had some science stuff to do. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all. Thank you, Maggie. You didn’t have to do all this,” Kara said, while shovelling home fries and scrambled eggs into her mouth.

“I think I did,” Maggie said, smiling. “Everyone needs a little help sometimes, and you seem like the kind of person who doesn’t like to ask. I happen to think the soulmate bond is really important, and I’d like to be here for you if you need to talk about it.”

“Really?” Kara asked. No-one had even asked to see her mark. She had found her one true love, been soundly rejected, and none of her friends or family had even asked to see the mark. That was usually the first thing people did, but it was almost as if someone had told them not to react when she talked about it.

“Really, kid. I love the romance of it, and even if it doesn’t work out, she’s your person. So tell me whatever you want, I’m here to listen.”

Kara smiled. This was the first time since she’d met Lena Luthor as Supergirl that she felt remotely happy about the whole thing.

“Can I see it? Is your mark somewhere your sister wouldn’t mind me seeing?” Maggie asked, teasing.

“Sure. It’s just under my collarbone,” Kara said, pulling down her pyjama top.

There, in cursive script, was the following:

_Fare thee well my black-haired diamond_

_Fare thee well my own Aisling_

“Wow. Is it a song lyric?” Maggie said.

“Yeah. I looked it up. It’s not really my kind of music. But I think she might have been named after it,” Kara said wistfully, her fingers tracing the mark on her chest.

“Named what? Ace - ling? How do you say that, anyway?” Maggie asked.

“There are a few ways, apparently. Some say Ash-leen, and some say Ash-ling. It depends where in Ireland you’re from.”

“I thought she was called Lena, though? Am I missing something?” Maggie asked, eyes narrowing.

“Yeah. I did some googling, since she obviously didn’t want to talk to me about herself. I mean, I was interviewing her anyway, as Kara-me, so it just seemed like good sense. She was born in Ireland, a place called Wicklow. She was an only child, and her mother passed away when she was 4 years old. Lionel Luthor, for some reason, was passing through the village she lived in and decided to adopt her. How he even heard of her I don’t know, but however it happened, she was adopted by the Luthors and when Lex did what he did, she was tapped to take over the company. From what I can tell she didn’t want to do it - she was working on a cure for cancer. But her family’s legacy seems to mean a lot to her, and she took on the job. So far she seems to be steering it in a more philanthropic direction, but then there’s the alien detection device – we had kind of a row about that one,” Kara said, laughing a little.

“So you have been talking to her as Kara Danvers, but she doesn’t know that Kara Danvers is Supergirl? And you’ve talked long enough to argue with her?” Maggie asked.

“Yeah. I haven’t gone looking for her, I promise. It’s just – my cousin, Clark – he was here when the Venture exploded, and Lena was a suspect for a while, so I went with him to meet her. After that, my boss decided that since we had such a great rapport, then I should carry on talking to her,” Kara said, staring at a piece of bacon as if all the secrets to the universe were contained therein.

“Oh, honey. That has got to be tough. Do you have to see her again?” Maggie asked.

“I told her I’d come to this gala thing she’s doing tonight. She basically manipulated me into it – came round to my apartment and gave me these sad eyes until I said yes. Which… I don’t understand, because the day before she basically had her Amazon bodyguard throw me out of her office.”

“You mean M’gann? Shit. I didn’t realise she was looking after Luthor. She’s been AWOL a lot lately from the bar – it’s her place. But she met her soulmate. She’s been gone a lot since then,” Maggie said. “Why did she throw you out?”

Kara explained the alien detection device and how it made her feel, as an alien hiding among humans, and Maggie rubbed her knuckles gently.

“I’m so sorry, kid. If she’s being honest, though, she’s taking it back to the drawing board. That’s gotta mean something, right? If she’s willing to listen and willing to change?”

“Of course it means something. She’s clearly nothing like her family. She’s trying to fix what they’ve destroyed. When I thought about it, and after she told me she was thinking about different uses… I believed her, Maggie. I just… I don’t understand. Maybe it’s just because I spent too long alone when I was younger, but how can you turn away the chance of a love approved by the universe, or the gods? What would make her want to do that?”

“I honestly don’t know. To my mind, soulmates – this bond – it’s sacred,” Maggie said, hand on her chest where her soulmark lay. “I think that if you’re together, then you face everything together. Like your family motto, right? El Maharajah?”

Kara snorted out a laugh.

“El Mayarah,” she corrected, giggling despite herself. “But yeah. Close enough.”

“Well, if you want my advice, you need to speak to her. As Supergirl. Just ask for an explanation. Tell her what you told me. If it turns out that she does hate aliens, or the colour blue, or has a problem with smokin’ hot blondes, then at least you’ll know the reason. Sometimes not knowing is the worst part.”

“Thanks, Mags,” Kara said, as she finished the last plateful of food. She looked at it regretfully, wondering if she had time for a stop at her favourite doughnut shop in Portland before work. “I really appreciate you staying. You really didn’t have to.”

“I know, Kara. But like I said, I take this soulmate thing seriously. And that means you’re my family now. So if you need me, I’m here.”

Kara hugged her, grateful that someone, at least, was willing to listen to her talk about her soulmate. She was starting to feel like she was going mad – even James and Winn wouldn’t talk about it, making excuses to be elsewhere. She had been feeling so alone.

“You don’t know how much this means to me,” Kara said, wiping away an errant tear.

“I think I do,” Maggie said, gently. “I really do. So if you need me, I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

“Thanks, Maggie.”

The rest of Kara’s day was fairly quiet. She made use of her knowledge of the alien bar, finding that while people were resistant to talking to her at first, a few drinks usually changed that. She was pleased with her work by the end of the day. A few contacts within the off-world community – which was, after all, her own community – couldn’t hurt.

And then it was time to get ready for the gala. She hadn’t asked for anyone to come and help, since everyone she knew was being strangely reticent about Lena. Rao, she didn’t even _want_ to go. Not as Kara Danvers, at least. Not while Lena didn’t know who she was.

She took a long shower and was towelling her hair dry when she heard a knock at the door. It was Maggie and Alex, along with Winn and an uncomfortable-looking James.

“We thought you might need help getting ready,” Maggie said, with a dark look at the others that stated clearly that she had bullied the others into it.

“Thanks you guys! I… really appreciate the help.”

Winn helped her select a black dress that showed off her arms and legs but obscured her soulmark, and Alex and Maggie helped with her hair and makeup while James got everyone drinks and generally goofed around.

“Damn, Danvers. I think I matched with the wrong sister. You got guns, Supergirl!” Maggie said, whistling.

“Hey. No fair, Maggie. She’s literally an alien from another planet with perfect, genetically-designed physiology. I can’t compete with that,” Alex complained.

“Sorry, babe. I’ve always been a sucker for muscles on a girl,” Maggie said, shrugging.

Kara sat back, smiling and watching her friends and family mess around. It made her feel warm inside for the first time in a while. She tried not to, but she couldn’t help but imagine Lena here, sitting next to her, holding her hand, laughing at one of Winn’s nerd jokes or Maggie’s dirty stories. She sighed quietly, cleaning her glasses absently. There was no point in crying over spilt milk, right? Because this milk was already going sour.

Tomorrow, she promised herself. Tomorrow she would go to see Lena Luthor as Supergirl and she would get an answer. 

The gala was head-spinning. Lena had somehow found out about Kara’s love for potstickers, and found a caterer who provided them. Kara had approximately 7 of the treats – 3 in her mouth and 4 in her hands – when Lena found her. She quickly swallowed and put the others on a napkin, wiping her hands.

“Lena. You look amazing,” Kara said, truthfully. Lena was in a dark grey silk dress that clung to her curves and made it hard not to look at certain… assets.

“And you, Kara. I had no idea you were so muscular underneath all those cardigans,” Lena said, running a finger gently up and down Kara’s right biceps.

Kara took in a shuddering breath, trying to ignore how Lena was making her feel. Because Lena might want Kara Danvers, but she didn’t want Supergirl. It was hard for her to remember than when Lena’s hand was on her forearm, her thumb massaging between the two bones there. Were forearms an erogenous zone? Because Kara felt like she was going to have a stroke.

“So, could I ask for this dance, Miss Danvers?” Lena asked.

“Um… sure. Of course,” Kara said, coughing slightly. She was going to dance with Lena Luthor, be pressed up against her, while they played some romantic waltz that belonged in a black and white movie musical. Rao. Why hadn’t she faked her own death?

It was just as bad – or as good – as she feared. Lena talked to her quietly as they waltzed, her arms around Kara’s neck, and Kara had to concentrate hard to remember to breathe and to move her feet at the same time. She tried to suppress everything she was feeling, because she didn’t want to remember this. She didn’t want to remember how Lena felt pressed against her, how she smelled, how soft her body was where it touched Kara’s.

“Are you okay, Kara?” Lena asked, lifting her chin with one finger.

“Huh?” Kara asked, dazed.

“You stopped dancing,” Lena said, looking up at her intently.

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually this… I’m just a little tired,” Kara said tugging at Lena’s waist until they were moving again.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Lena asked, her lips close to Kara’s ear.

“No, nothing. Just a little stress,” Kara said, concentrating fiercely on her steps.

“You really do look amazing tonight, Kara. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as beautiful as you,” Lena murmured, and this time Kara could swear her lips – or her tongue – touched her ear. Kara shivered.

“I think you might need to look into a mirror sometime, Miss Luthor. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Such a sweet talker. Tell me, Kara. Are you seeing anyone right now?” Lena asked. This time she turned her head a little and pressed a tiny kiss to Kara’s neck. Kara shuddered. How could she be asking someone else out when she had a soulmate? What kind of person did that?

“I’m not,” Kara managed to spit out, after a moment.

“Oh. And are you… interested?” Lena asked, pulling back a little to look Kara in the eye.

Kara forgot how to breathe. Lena’s eyes were like crystal. Like kryptonite. She was powerless in the face of either, it appeared, because Lena was moving closer to her, and Kara couldn’t help but move in, too. She could feel Lena’s breath on her lips, touching her tongue, and then their lips brushed, and Kara stopped thinking altogether.

Then there was a strange noise in the background, and Kara’s head whipped round. It was the sound of an energy weapon - the gang from the bank robbery the other day. What the hell were they doing there?

“Kara, get back. Stay away from them. Stay safe, darling, okay?” Lena said, pushing Kara back and behind her.

Kara was lost in indecision. She tapped her earpiece, twice, a sign which should call the DEO to her location with all haste. She checked out the entrances and exits, deciding that she’d be best going through the staff door to the kitchen and out of the window before she landed back inside.

The leader of the gang approached Lena, who stepped up, all swagger and smugness.

“You picked the wrong party to crash,” Lena said, with a snarl in her voice.

“Oh, I don’t think so, princess,” he said, ripping the beautiful necklace from Lena’s neck. She raised her chin in defiance. Kara couldn’t help it; she saw red. She moved to Lena’s side and punched the guy, not at full strength of course, but enough to hurt.

“Leave her alone!” she yelled. A second gunman ran at her, then, and she had to pretend to go down when he hit her with the butt of the gun. She bit her lip hard, and rubbed a little of the resulting blood across her mouth and chin. Someone pushed her over roughly, and said,” she’s fine, she’ll live,” in a rough voice. She could hear Lena yelling. And then she heard a roaring noise, and the sound of punching. She opened one eye to see a huge, monstrous white creature beating up the gunmen. No-one was looking in her direction, so Kara blurred out and then back in wearing her suit. Lena had disappeared, to her alarm, but she jumped into the fight, only to be hit by one of the energy beams, and then another. The white alien stood back to back with her, blocking the other beam, but it was only a matter of time before Kara had all of her energy drained by the weapons. She could already feel them beginning to burn through the skin of her abdomen.

Maybe it was time to let it all go. National City wouldn’t be targeted by people like this if she weren’t a shining beacon, a challenge to every superpowered being on Earth and beyond. If she was gone, maybe things would go back to normal for the people here. She closed her eyes, accepting her fate, but suddenly a strange energy passed through her, and she wasn’t in pain anymore. She opened her eyes to find the guys staring at their now-useless guns. She stood - with the help of the white alien - and they restrained the gang, taking their weapons away. In the meantime, Lena Luthor climbed out from underneath the stage, holding a square device that looked extremely complicated.

“Is that a black-body field generator?” Kara asked, stunned.

“It is. It took out their weapons,” Lena said, a little smug, though she did blanch when she saw Supergirl.

“You set this thing up, to try to catch them, didn’t you?” Kara asked, hands on hips.

“I did. These people needed to be stopped.”

Kara nodded, looking around her, and she walked to the unconscious gang leader, pulling something from his pocket.

“I believe this is yours, Miss Luthor. Thank you for your help today,” she said, handing the necklace to Lena carefully, without touching her.

“Thank you, Supergirl,” Lena said, eyes narrowed. She might as well have said, “That’ll be all”.

Kara nodded at the white alien, who nodded back, and she flew around the perimeter, waiting until the DEO arrived. They did so a few minutes later, and Kara told Alex what had happened.

“Do you know who the giant white alien is who helped me out in there?” Kara asked.

“Yes. That’s Miss Luthor’s bodyguard. You met her the other day.”

“Oh,” Kara said, impressed. “She’s really something.”

“She really is, Supergirl,” J’onn said, arriving on the scene and giving out orders. “I trust her implicitly. So can you.”

“Noted,” Kara said, with a silly little half-salute. “I’ll leave you guys to it, I guess.”

It was only when she got home that she realised that her dress and shoes were on the roof of the building. And then she remembered that Kara Danvers hadn’t said goodbye to Lena. She swore and checked her phone – 8 messages from Lena Luthor. She sent off a message, apologising and saying that she’d had a panic attack after the incident and had to head home.

The response was immediate.

_Kara, I’m so glad you contacted me. I was out of my mind. Are you at a hospital? Is there someone with you? You shouldn’t be alone – you took quite a hit from that man._

_I’m fine, Lena, thanks. There’s no fracture, just a sore mouth. I’ll be fine tomorrow. I need some sleep, that’s all. _

_You need someone there to keep an eye on you. I’ll come over. _

_No. I’m fine, thank you. My sister is here, she’s going to stay. But thank you for the offer, that’s really nice of you. _

_Okay. If you’re sure. I had a really nice time tonight, Kara, despite the interruptions, and I’d love to continue our conversation sometime. If you’re interested. _

_I had a nice time too, Lena. Let me get some sleep and hopefully we’ll speak soon. Kara _

There. That was nice, but non-committal enough, right? Lena couldn’t take that as a promise of anything. Kara changed and tried to sleep, despite feeling like she was having her heart torn into pieces. Lena didn’t want Supergirl, but she did want Kara. How was she supposed to handle this? Her usual support network was gone, because Alex thought she should just forget about her soulmate, of all things, and it seemed that everyone else except Maggie was of the same opinion.

Her resolve grew. She needed to speak to Lena, so she would get it over with as soon as she could, and then she’d have the weekend to deal with whatever Lena said.

She turned over and managed to fall asleep a little while later, trying not to think about what might have been – despite its brevity - the best kiss of her life.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara talks to Lena as Supergirl, and goes to an old friend for some advice

* * *

“Agent Danvers? It’s nice to see you, in spite of the circumstances. What brings you here?” Lena asked, after she’d given the interviews the NCPD insisted on.

“Our job is to deal with extra-terrestrials and that includes their weapons. I have no idea where they might have gotten hold of these, though,” Alex said, tapping her lip with a finger.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you there. If there is anything I can do, though, please let me know.”

“Thank you, Miss Luthor.”

Lena stood there, thinking of the messages she’d just exchanged with Kara.

“Is there something else, Miss Luthor?” Alex asked, frowning a little.

“You don’t have a sister, by any chance, Agent Danvers, do you?”

Alex stiffened.

“Yes. Kara. I take it you met her through her job?” Alex asked, face giving nothing away.

“Yes. She’s interviewed me a few times. She was my plus one tonight.”

“I think I remember her saying something about that,” Alex murmured.

“Yes, well. She’s lovely company. Do you have another sister?” Lena asked, chewing on a thumbnail.

“No, it’s just the two of us,” Alex said, still expressionless.

“I see. Thank you, Agent. And remember, if I can help with anything, just let me know.”

Lena frowned as she walked to her car, M’gann close behind her.

“Is something bothering you, Miss Luthor?” M’gann asked.

“Perhaps. Kara Danvers – you escorted her out the other day? She was my plus one tonight, and I thought it went well, at least until the gunmen arrived. She stood up to them for me and got hit with a gun in the face for her trouble,” Lena said.

“And is she okay?” M’gann asked.

“Well, she said she’s at home and her sister is looking after her. The only trouble is that I was just talking to said sister, who’s the senior agent at the crime scene. What do you think would make her lie to me like that?”

“Hmm. I can’t say,” M’gann said. “It could be many things. Why did you invite her?”

“Honestly? I need a friend, and she seems like a nice person. Not to mention she’s insanely attractive. And I need a distraction from all of this Supergirl business,” Lena said, touching her necklace absently.

“So the kid’s just a distraction? That seems a little harsh, Lena.”

“I’m not using her. I’m open to a relationship,” Lena protested. “I just don’t want one with Supergirl.”

“Hmm. Well, I can’t help you there. You could just try talking to her,” M’gann suggested.

“Maybe you’re right,” Lena said, looking out the window. She really _was_ open to a relationship with Kara, and truth be told she had been enjoying the effect her forward behaviour had on the young reporter. But perhaps she shouldn’t be pursuing anything just now. It wasn’t like her life wasn’t complicated enough.

She took a deep breath, trying not to think of the sadness in Supergirl’s eyes when she’d handed her necklace over. It didn’t occur to her until much later to wonder how Supergirl even knew she was wearing a necklace, let alone which one.

***

Kara dressed carefully. It was mid-morning, and a quick look across the city with x-ray vision showed that Lena was in her office already, despite it being a Saturday. Kara took a deep breath, and launched herself out of her window quietly. She was at LCorp less than a minute later.

She landed on the balcony quietly and knocked on the window. Lena turned her head, expression darkening when she saw who was standing there. She stood, smoothing her skirt, and opened the balcony door a touch.

“That door isn’t an entrance,” she said, flatly.

“It is if you can fly. Can I come in, please, Miss Luthor? I think we need to talk,” Kara said, using her most unthreatening body language and expressions.

Lena sighed.

“Fine. But I have a lot of work to do, Supergirl, so just make it quick.”

Lena sat on the edge of her desk, arms crossed, waiting for Kara to speak.

“What does yours say?” Kara asked, tapping her collarbone.

“I don’t know,” Lena said. “I don’t speak your language.”

“Can I see it?” Kara asked.

Lena looked at her, eyes like flint.

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to know what the gods or the universe or whoever has to say about me to my soulmate,” Kara said, raising her chin. She could have x-rayed Lena’s shoulder, of course, but she didn’t want to inadvertently see anything else. Or breach Lena’s privacy like that.

“Fine,” Lena grumbled. She undid the first two buttons on her shirt, pulling it down far enough to expose the Kryptonian symbols. It read “Kara, beloved of Rao.” Kara held back a sob with difficulty.

“What does it say?” Lena asked, curiously.

“What does it matter?” Kara asked, turning her head to wipe away an errant tear.

“It doesn’t,” Lena agreed, face blank. “Was that all, Supergirl?”

“No, that wasn’t all. What exactly is your problem with me, Miss Luthor? My understanding of humans is that they are generally happy about soulmarks, and yet you reacted as if I’d shot you when yours showed up. Only minutes after I’d saved you from a drone attack that would have killed you, I might add. So what can I possibly have done to make you turn your back on this? We’ve been selected for one another by Rao knows who, a god or a higher being or the universe itself, and you’re not even curious as to how we might fit together? I came across galaxies to get here, Miss Luthor. It’s little short of a miracle that I made it here at all, never mind that I would be your soulmate, considering our family’s history. So why are you so dead against even getting to know me?”

She tried to keep an even tone, and she tried not to get upset, but she couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her face. She wiped them away, trying to ignore them. Lena was staring at her, open-mouthed.

After a moment of stunned silence, she sighed. “I’m sorry, Supergirl. I understand that this soul bond means a lot to you. Perhaps it would matter in the same way to me, too, in another universe. But that universe is not this one. My brother went insane trying to fight off a threat that apparently only he could see. That threat was your cousin. Lex was the only person to show me any affection after I was adopted. I loved him, and Superman destroyed him. I don’t hold that against Superman or against you. He did the right thing and saved lives, when Lex was trying to burn the world down around him. But the idea of being… the idea of seeing that symbol every day, of being in a relationship with a person from your family? I can’t do that, Supergirl. I’m sorry. I certainly hope that you find someone worthy of you one day, but that person is not me.”

“And you know better than whoever put these marks here, is that it?” Kara demanded, tears still streaming down her face.

“I don’t care, Supergirl. Whoever they are, they made a decision that we are a match. I didn’t. And I’m sorry if it hurts you, but I don’t want you, Supergirl.”

Lena turned away then, and Kara staggered as if she’d been punched in the gut. She took a breath, nodding to herself, before flying straight out through the open balcony door. She made it halfway to the Fortress, heat vision pouring out into the air thousands of feet up, before her powers blew out. She landed deep inside a snowbank and made no effort to get up or climb up. She said nothing to anyone, not even Alex, when the DEO sent a Blackhawk to pick her up later that day, concerned that she wasn’t where she should have been.

She was sentenced to bed rest for the next few days with portable sunbeds set up around her apartment. She used them, of course, because Alex bullied her into it, but even Maggie couldn’t get her to talk.

It was past midnight on her second day of bed rest, and she succumbed to the desire to get a breakfast from a 24-hour diner on the other side of National City. She forgot momentarily about her powers being blown, and had to find a late bus that would take her there. She managed half of her normal portion, smiling wanly at the owners as she went to find a bus in the other direction.

She didn’t see the ambush coming. She was sitting on a disgusting bench at the bus stop when she felt a sting in her neck, and it took only a few seconds for her to pass out.

Someone slapped her, throwing ice-cold water in her face.

“Wake up, filthy vermin.”

Kara recognised the voice. It sounded a little like the voice on the Cadmus videos. She opened her eyes, finding Hank standing over her, next to a tall woman, taller even than Kara, with eyes that reminded her of Lena’s.

“J’onn? What are you doing here?” Kara asked, confused. She got a punch in the face for her trouble. It felt like being hit with a metal bar.

“Don’t you dare say that name in here. That filthy Martian stole my life. I am the real Hank Henshaw,” he snarled.

Kara gasped. If he was alive, did that mean that Jeremiah was, too?

She got another slap in the face for her inattention.

“You were at LCorp this weekend. You had a conversation with my daughter,” the woman said.

“Your daughter?” Kara asked, playing dumb.

“Lena Luthor. You were in her office for almost 10 minutes. What could you possibly have to discuss with her as Supergirl that would take that long?”

“I went to talk to her about putting herself at risk, like she did with her gala. She could have been killed. She didn’t care, and told me to get lost. I tried to get through to her, but she told me to leave, and I did.”

“And her asking you to be her guest at said party, as Kara Danvers?”

“A coincidence,” Kara shrugged. “I went to interview her after the Venture exploded, and we got along. She asked me there for support. Now, if that’s everything,” Kara smiled and made to get up to leave. Henshaw’s fist almost dislocated her jaw, this time.

“You leave my daughter alone, Supergirl, or I will rain hell down upon you and your family. I’ve left you alone up until now, but I won’t do so if you approach her again. I am Lillian Luthor, and I am the Head of Cadmus. I am going to rid the Earth of you and your darling cousin, not to mention the rest of the filth who have settled on our planet. Lena might not understand my cause yet, but she will, one day. You leave her alone, as Kara Danvers and as Supergirl, or I will destroy everything you love,” Lillian warned.

“Fine,” Kara said. “Lena wants nothing to do with Supergirl, and I’m sure she can make another friend,” she shrugged. “Now what?”

“Now, I want your blood. I want you to blow your powers out,” Lillian Luthor began.

“Lady, if I had my powers, do you really think I’d be sitting here and not putting your boy-toy through a wall?” Kara asked. “My powers are gone.”

“I haven’t seen any reports that would explain your powers being knocked out,” Lillian said, suspiciously.

“Well maybe you don’t know as much as you think,” Kara said, smiling smugly.

Lillian backhanded her this time, and it hurt a lot more than she had anticipated.

“Grab her. Hold her steady.”

Henshaw grabbed Kara by both biceps, restraining her as Lillian filled several large vials with Kara’s blood. She didn’t bother to try to stop the bleeding when she was done. She just stood there, sneering down at Kara.

“And now you can lie here and think about what you’ve done,” Lillian said, as Henshaw pushed Kara inside of a cage and closed the door. Though it was unnecessary, they switched on Kryptonite emitters, and Kara flopped back onto the bed, holding her sleeve tight around her elbow to slow the bleeding.

An indeterminate amount of time later someone came into the cell area, and Kara didn’t bother opening her eyes. Unless it was rescue or a really big bowl of ice cream, she wasn’t interested.

“Kara?”

She opened one eye. There was a tall, broad man in scruffy clothes standing outside the cell.

  
“Who are you?” she asked.

“Jeremiah. It’s me. Come on, we have to get you out of there.”

He opened the lock, but Kara didn’t move.

“Let me see your face,” she said, frowning.

He pulled down his hood, and Kara saw that it _was_ Jeremiah.

“What are you doing here?” Kara asked, jumping up and hugging him.

“I’ve been here the whole time. They’ve been holding you over me,” Jeremiah said. “Not just you, but Alex and Eliza, too. They said if I worked for them, they’d keep you safe.”

He led her out into a sewer, and after a few minutes he found a gate, opening it with a key card.

“Kara, I need you to go. Henshaw is coming. I’ll hold him off; you just get out of here.”

Kara shook her head violently.

“No. No, you have to come with me. Alex needs you. Eliza needs you. Please, Jeremiah.”

“Go, Kara. Please.”

Jeremiah turned back, and Kara saw Henshaw running towards them. She gave up on persuading Jeremiah, running in the other direction until she found an opening to the outside. She climbed up a ladder and laboriously pushed up a grate at the top before climbing out, breathing hard.

“Kara!”

The name came from her earpiece. They must have been blocking communications inside the facility.

“Here. I’m here,” Kara gasped, lying flat on her back on the dirty cement. A few minutes later Alex was there, lifting her up and holding her steady.

“Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s down there,” Kara said, exhausted. She gave Alex and the other agents directions, but Alex refused to leave her, supporting her gently to another Blackhawk and back to the DEO.

She gave a full statement to Alex and J’onn, finding that she had been missing for 14 hours or so. Once she was fully debriefed, she was pushed into the sunroom, and no-one would listen to her protests that she would be fine at home.

“That’s what you said the other day, Kara. You’re staying here. If Cadmus want you, they’ll have to fight through the entire DEO to get to you.”

Alex’s soft singing and her scratching at Kara’s head made her fall asleep in minutes, despite her protests, and she was pulled into a green-tinted nightmare where Lena Luthor told Kara that she didn’t want her. Then it was Lillian Luthor backhanding her like she was scum. Then it was Lena kissing her. She couldn’t decide which part of the dream was worse.

***

Maggie Sawyer, as it turned out, was as stubborn as a Yorkshire terrier after a rat. As soon as Kara was released from the DEO, she spent most of her down time at her apartment, making incredible food that Kara had never tried before. Kara was pretty sure that if it wasn’t for the food, she would have thrown Maggie out by now.

“You need to talk it out, Kara. I know Alex is being no help with this, and believe me if I could do anything about that I would. But any idiot can see how much this is hurting you,” Maggie pleaded, passing Kara a hot chocolate with more whipped cream and marshmallows than she’d ever seen together in one place before.

“What is there to say, Maggie? She doesn’t want me. Supergirl me. She says she doesn’t blame me or my cousin about what happened with Lex. She said that was all Lex. But she said she couldn’t wake up every day looking at that symbol, because it reminded her of the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She made it very clear, Maggie. She said, “I don’t want you, Supergirl.””

Kara coughed to try to loosen her vocal cords. “That’s when I left.”

“And then you blew out your powers rage-heating the icecaps?” Maggie asked, head tilted.

“Yeah. Forgive me, I have emotions and I thought it would be better if I took it out on the sky than on National City,” Kara snapped.

“Kara, I’m not blaming you. If it was me I would be losing it. I don’t know how you’re even able to walk and talk. I know you probably think I’m pestering you, but I really think you need to talk to someone and let some of this out, because if you don’t – Kara, you’re the most powerful being on the planet. If you lose your mind, god only knows what could happen. Just keep yourself healthy for me, will you?”

Kara nodded. She had an idea, and it didn’t involve a therapist, per se. Someone who gave good advice, instead. She waited until they’d eaten dinner and the apartment was quiet before sending a message.

_Miss Grant, I could really use some of your advice, if you have time. _

The reply, when it came, gave the impression of surprise.

_And here I thought you’d be diving by now. _

_You know how sometimes it feels like you’re diving, but it turns out that all you’re actually doing is drowning?_

_You know I despise millennial drama, dear. Come and see me. _

The message was followed by an address in Tuscany.

“You mind if I disappear for a while, Mags?” Kara asked, thoughtfully. Her sister’s soulmate had fallen asleep on her shoulder watching One Day at a Time.

“Of course not. Your powers back, Little Danvers?”

“Yeah. Since yesterday morning,” Kara said, hovering in place a little to demonstrate.

“Fine. But where are you headed? You aren’t going to do something dumb, are you?”

“I’m going to see Miss Grant. I need to talk with someone who’s not involved, you know? And she’s always given me the best advice.”

“Okay, Kara. You do you. But if you need me, just call, okay?” Maggie said, still obviously concerned.

“I will. Thank you, Maggie. I don’t know what the deal is with everyone else and why they’re acting like my soulmate rejecting me isn’t an issue, but I’m so glad I have you here. It stops me feeling insane, you know?”

“I know,” Maggie said, sadly. She pulled Kara into a hug. “Now, go see Miss Grant, will ya? And get me an autograph if you can – that woman is seriously smoking. She was my first crush.”

“Mine too,” Kara admitted, smiling. “I used to watch her daytime television show every day. She’s not like that, though, not really. She’s harsh but she’s fair, and once she cares, she cares hard. I really miss working with her. But I better go, she’ll be wondering where I am.”

Kara spun into her suit and flew out the window quietly, saluting Maggie once again as she left. She gained altitude and when she was high enough and far enough from the city, she broke the sound barrier and headed for Europe.

After a little searching, she found the area where Cat was staying and, with a bit of concentration, found Cat’s heartbeat. She floated closer, finding Cat waiting on a balcony with a glass of scotch. She was reading something suitably highbrow by Roxane Gay, and she looked relaxed and tanned. Happy.

“Miss Grant. Sorry it took me so long,” Kara said, quietly.

Cat looked up at her and smiled fondly.

“Come down here, you big lump. Let me have a look at you.”

Kara landed on the balcony delicately and immediately swept Cat up into a hug.

“I’ve really missed you, Miss Grant,” she said, tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

“I’ve missed you too, Kara. Do you know, you not only hold the record for longest-serving assistant, but also for the best cup of coffee I have ever had?” Cat said, smiling as she took in Kara’s demeanour. “But something’s not right, is it, Supergirl? Come and sit.”

Kara sat on the second sun lounger, accepting a glass of scotch even though it tasted like fuel.

“So, what brings National City’s hero to me on this beautiful Italian night?” Cat asked, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“I needed someone to talk to. Someone not involved in all this… crazy,” Kara said, indicating her suit.

“I’m honoured you would think of me,” Cat said. Kara looked at her, an amused smile on her face.

“There’s no-one else who understands me the way you do, Miss Grant. You were such an amazing mentor to… well, both of me. You made me realise how strong I am. But now… I don’t feel remotely strong.”

“Tell me what happened,” Cat suggested, taking a sip from her Scotch.

Kara told her everything. About how Lena was pursuing her as Kara Danvers, and how she insisted she didn’t want Supergirl, her actual soulmate. How her friends were acting about the whole thing.

“I don’t know what’s going on with them, Miss Grant.”

“Would you please call me Cat, Kara? I think we’re passed the mentor and mentee part of our association.”

Kara nodded, blushing a little as she was wont to do when Cat was a little snippy.

“My family – my sister thinks I should just forget about it, because if Lena doesn’t want me, I should move on. James and Winn basically run away every time the situation is brought up, and my boss – he just frowns and says he’s sorry he can’t help. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m romanticising the whole soulmate thing too much. But when it comes to Alex’s soulmate – if someone were to try to keep them apart, she’d kill everyone that stood in her way. But for some reason I’m just expected to go with it, and forget about the person who’s supposed to be my one true match in the universe. Just because I travelled 27 light years to get here, just because my pod was knocked off course and time stood still for 24 years to make sure I was here at exactly the right time as my soulmate? That means nothing, apparently. I should just get over it. I mean, what _is_ that?”

Cat tapped a finger against her glass, thinking. Kara noticed that it was running low, so she filled it in a blast of superspeed, and noted with some amusement that Cat blinked several times at the now-full tumbler in her hands before speaking.

“Your sister, Agent Scully. Has she ever lied to you before?”

“A few times,” Kara said, thoughtfully. “She was trying to keep me safe or protect me in some way. Apart from with Astra. J’onn lied about that. To… to protect me. And Alex.”

“Ah, yes. Your boss, Mulder. Wasn’t he a friend, almost family? Why would he not at least try to make you feel better about this? Because you’re not wrong, Kara. Most people see the soulmark, the bond, as the pinnacle of romance. I’ve never heard of a person turning their soulmate away. And I call bullshit on what young Lena has been saying. I know her, at least a little. She turned in her own brother to protect people she didn’t know, when it became clear that he was entirely deranged. Perhaps she might have some deep-seated resentment against the Supers, but I don’t buy it, myself. The girl was obsessed with turning things around, taking the money that LuthorCorp made and using it to make a difference in the world. Does that sound like someone who’d be as cruel as she is being to you?” Cat asked.

“Well, what else could it be?” Kara asked, spreading her hands. “I don’t understand, Cat. It’s not like she could have anything to hate me for. I’ve never done a thing to harm her, in fact I’ve saved her life on a number of occasions. I don’t understand why she would have a reason not to at least give it a try. Maybe I am crazy.”

Cat took her hand and squeezed it.

“You’re not crazy, darling. The answer is clear to me now. All of these people, all of their indifference about your soulmark – it smacks of protection. When you met Miss Luthor, you were saving her life. And five minutes later you and Superman are getting your asses handed to you by a glowing green British man. I think you being around Lena puts you in more danger, and if I know her as I think I do, that would be unacceptable for her. The same with your family and friends.”

Cat shrugged delicately.

“You’re an investigative reporter now, Kara. So use that, and use the powers your god gave you, and find out what the hell is going on. Maybe then you can get to the bottom of this business and mend that broken heart, hmm?”

Cat was still squeezing her hand, and Kara let out a quiet sob, and then another. A moment later, Cat was holding her close, murmuring comforting nonsense into her ear, and Kara felt a little like the world had stopped for a while, just for her to have a little comfort in what had been a horrible few weeks.

When she left an hour or so later, it was with a lighter heart. Cat always had a way of saying the right things. Perhaps it might not make things any better, but Cat’s theory that Alex and her friends might be trying to keep her safe from some unknown threat – or perhaps even a known threat, like Cadmus – made more sense than Alex suddenly deciding that her little sister’s feelings didn’t matter, after years of protecting Kara’s life and heart with her own.

As Kara made her way across the Atlantic, she swooped in and out of the ocean, swimming with a pod of orca who were playing lazily, dipping in and out of the ocean and flopping back down. She listened to them sing to her, and let that song sustain her on her way home. Lena Luthor might be her soulmate, and her only real chance for love in the universe, or perhaps just on this planet, but she wasn’t Kara’s only chance of happiness. Romantic love meant a lot to her, but it wasn’t everything. She could live without it though she certainly didn’t want to. She knew she was likely to live a long time, so perhaps another soulmate would come along when Lena was gone.

That thought didn’t make her feel any better. The thought of Lena dying hurt Kara more than she could have foreseen, given how much the woman had hurt her already in their short acquaintance.

Kara arrived back at her apartment, finding it empty, for a wonder. She dropped her suit on the floor and had a boiling hot shower before dropping into bed and falling asleep almost immediately. Maybe she could do this, she thought before she drifted off. She didn’t need romantic love to have a full life. Now, if only she could stop thinking about Lena Luthor’s eyes.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's an attack at the alien bar, and Kara's next attempt to make contact with Lena goes disastrously. M'gann is wise, and Alex and J'onn are not smart.

* * *

Lena was watching a horrible news broadcast. Cadmus had claimed responsibility for an attack on an alien bar, a refuge for off-worlders. That meant that Lillian had found or made some sort of virus that killed only aliens.

Lena watched Supergirl on the news, her eyes streaming with tears as she tried to help victims of the virus. One man in particular, one of the dead, seemed to be a friend, and Supergirl seemed heartbroken. Lena’s heart was twisting as she watched it. She couldn’t bear to see her soulmate hurt, and thus far that was all she’d done to Supergirl since they met. Now her mother was doing it, too.

On a whim, she had Jess send flowers to Kara Danvers along with a note asking her to lunch. Her article on the alien detection device had come out and was… surprisingly balanced. Perhaps Kara could provide a little distraction from all this… confusion with Supergirl. Things with Kara were uncomplicated, and Lena craved that sort of simplicity right now.

Kara didn’t make an appointment, but she did arrive at lunch with a salad from Lena’s favourite vegan place and a horribly greasy burger from a place she favoured. When Lena set eyes on the tall reporter, something inside of her relaxed, like she’d been waiting for the sight all day.

“So, Miss Luthor,” Kara said, smiling faintly. “My office at CatCo seems to be a little more… flowery than it was yesterday? Did I do something incredibly nice for you and not realise it?”

Lena smiled back at her. Even when Kara was being snippy, she made Lena feel… at peace, and in conflict with herself at the same time.

“I read your magazine article, Kara. I must admit, I expected a complete hatchet job from you after our discussion about the alien detection device,” Lena said.

“Oh, I wrote a scathing article on your device,” Kara said, half-laughing. “I think that in its current form, it’s an instrument of division and something that might even put people’s lives in danger, human or alien. But you reassured me that you were going to think about what I said, and my boss told me to get a handle on myself and report impartially. So you’re looking at my second draft, which Snapper Carr made me edit approximately one thousand times,” Kara said, shrugging.

Lena’s heart sank. Kara still didn’t believe in her, but she was willing to keep an open mind. Perhaps that was more than Lena really deserved.

“I’m sorry, if I upset you,” Kara said, after a moment’s silence. “It’s not an attack on you, I mean… you seem perfectly nice.”

Kara’s mouth twisted strangely when she said that, and Lena frowned.

“I have no reason to think that you’re anything like your family, and I really am sorry if I upset you. I think people can still be friends, even if they don’t agree on everything, don’t you?” Kara asked.

“Of course,” Lena said smoothly. “Friends.”

Kara smiled, chewing on another huge piece of burger. They made small talk for a few minutes, and Kara checked her watch.

“I have to go – I’m on a deadline. But it was really nice seeing you, Lena,” Kara said, fidgeting with her glasses nervously.

Lena stepped closer and ran one hand up Kara’s arm.

“I had a really nice time the other night, before the whole you getting hit in the face with the gun part,” Lena said, looking down shyly and biting her lip. She heard Kara’s breath catch in her lungs, and took it as encouragement, stepping forward. “I’d really like to do it again sometime.”

Lena moved closer, astonished by the heat radiating from Kara’s skin. She really ran hot; Lena had noticed it when she kissed her neck on the night of the gala. She did so again, now, unable to stop herself. Kara shuddered, then, and Lena reached up to wind her hand into Kara’s soft hair, scratching at her scalp.

“I really like you, Kara,” she murmured, kissing Kara’s ear and then her neck, just below. She dipped a little further, her teeth nipping at the end of Kara’s collarbone, and Kara jerked back as if she’d been burned.

“I’m sorry,” Kara said, blushing furiously. “I really do have to go, Lena.”

She fled as if the armies of Sauron were on her heels, and Lena watched her go, heart (and libido) sinking. There was something about Kara Danvers, something that Lena’s usual defences were useless against, but Kara was making it pretty clear that she didn’t want anything to do with Lena in a romantic way. Lena sighed and finished her salad before getting back to work.

It was later that evening when she heard boots touch down on her balcony. She put her head in her hands. It was time to move to the next level, it appeared, in their plan to try to keep Supergirl away. Lena unlocked her top drawer, pulling out a brown envelope.

“Miss Luthor. I’m sorry to bother you. But I need to talk to you about your mother,” Supergirl said, using her most forceful tone. It had an… effect, on Lena, but she sighed a little, shaking her head. Supergirl couldn’t be hers, she reminded herself.

“Supergirl, I thought I had made myself perfectly clear. I do not wish to speak to you, or to work with you. If your organisation has information they want to share with me, they can contact me directly. I want nothing to do with you.”

Lena kept her tone flat, her eyes flinty. To her credit, Supergirl didn’t even blink.

“This isn’t about you and me, Miss Luthor. This is about your mother. Did you know that she was responsible for the murders of those aliens in the bar last night?”

“I figured it out,” Lena said, shrugging.

“One of my… someone I cared about died there. That bar belongs to your bodyguard, Miss Luthor. She could just as easily have been in there and died with the rest. You need to tell me how to find your mother before she kills anyone else.”

“Take my advice, Supergirl,” Lena said, her tone cold. “Leave me alone, and stay away from my mother. She’s not a pleasant woman, and she won’t give you the benefit of a warning. I have sent a copy of this document to your friends at the FBI, but this is your personal copy.” Lena handed her the envelope. Supergirl looked at it intently without opening it, and Lena realised she was using x-ray vision. There was something ridiculously hot about the power that the woman in front of her held so effortlessly, and Lena took a moment, tightening her jaw, to calm herself.

“A restraining order? You took out a restraining order against me,” Supergirl said, flatly.

“I did. You are not allowed within 250 feet of any LCorp facility or any of my properties. Your FBI friends are already aware of this and have told me that they will enforce the order since they’re the only ones who have the means to do so. I’ve also been given access to some technology,” Lena drawled, pressing a switch in her pocket. All the lights in the room turned green, and Supergirl noticeably wilted.

“They gave you Kryptonite emitters,” she stated, flatly. “Wow. They know how to make a girl feel popular.”

“Now do you understand, Supergirl? Am I being clear enough?”

“I believe you’ve made yourself very clear, Miss Luthor,” Supergirl said, stepping forward, teeth grinding together against the pain the kryptonite was causing. “This is beyond cruel and unnecessary, and it makes me think that there must be a lot more to this. Because everything I read about you, everyone I talk to about you – they all tell me that you’re a good person and that you care, deeply, about what happens to people. Even aliens. But when it comes to me, someone who’s supposed to be your soulmate, your one real and true chance at love, you’re cruel, bordering on evil. I think that if you’re going to these lengths, then you’re really scared. Either of what will happen to you if someone finds out, or what will happen to me. Since I’ve already seen how little regard you have for your own life, it’s fairly clear that you’re doing this to protect me. Something you should know, though, is that your mother already abducted me once. Took blood from me, had me beaten up by some sort of cyborg sidekick… So if you’re trying to protect me from her, that’s a big fat fail. And as to Lex – I’m sure he’s got a long reach from prison, Lena. But I happen to think that you and I would be a team to be reckoned with. My IQ, as you humans call it, is much higher than yours. If we worked together, we could achieve anything. But since you’re intent on making all the decisions for us, I’m going to just… let you. I won’t interfere, unless I think there’s no other way to save your life. You can have me killed or put in prison for that if you wish, I won’t stop you. But neither will I allow you to die because of this insane idea of yours. Thank you for the letter, Miss Luthor.”

Kara limped to the door slowly, obviously in pain, and Lena was tempted to turn off the Kryptonite emitters. Would Supergirl even be able to fly with the radiation so near? She set her jaw, however, watching Supergirl impassively as she made her way slowly to the balcony. To Lena’s alarm, she simply sat on the balcony wall and fell backwards, falling straight down. Lena ran to the edge, looking over, and she saw Supergirl continue to fall, straight down. Lena’s heart was in her throat as she watched, but Supergirl pulled up at the last second, swooping away without a backwards glance.

“Fuck,” Lena whispered, her eyes streaming. She was trying to keep Supergirl safe and alive, but all she felt right now was guilt and pain. She’d deliberately attacked the woman using the law and kryptonite, of all things. What else did she expect to feel?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, knowing that Supergirl was too far away to hear it. “You deserve so much better than me.”

Lena went back to her work, switching off the Kryptonite lights, and was unsurprised when her mother showed up a little later, dropping hints about an isotope that might be in Lena’s possession.

“I’m here trying to rebuild the company, mother, not cater to your whims. What do you even need it for, anyway?” Lena played dumb, knowing exactly what her mother had planned, and exactly what her own countermeasures were going to be. The isotope was already being dealt with by her R&D team, to make any virus that was bound to it inert.

“Suffice it to say, dear, I have a plan to get rid of our off-world visitors. Whatever your brother’s faults, he was on the right side of history on that one,” Lillian said, eyes narrowed. “He’d be very proud of you, you know.”

“I can tell,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “When I’m proud of someone, I make sure to try to have them murdered multiple times.”

“That was nothing,” Lillian said, waving a hand dismissively. “Sibling rivalry. You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“I’m alive because of the Kryptonians, of all people, mother. Do you know what it felt like to have to thank them, to look at that fucking symbol on their chests and pretend to be grateful? You have no idea what Lex put me through.”

Lillian tilted her head in a move that might have been intended to convey sympathy. It did nothing of the sort.

“You might be the strongest of us all, my dear. Think about what I asked, please.”

Lena nodded, sighing wearily. When she looked up, Lillian was gone, and M’gann phased out of the wall silently.

“Did you get all of that?” Lena asked, impassive.

“I did. Are you all right? That was a pretty rough conversation you had with Supergirl,” M’gann said.

“Hmm. Yes, it was.”

“You know, you don’t have to do this,” M’gann said, sitting down opposite Lena at her desk. “She’s figured out what you’re doing. You might as well just come clean and… like she said. Give it a chance.”

“Have you got a soulmate?” Lena asked, one eyebrow cocked.

“Yes. It’s a very recent thing. We didn’t have them on my planet.”

“Where are you from?” Lena asked. She’d asked before but M’gann hadn’t answered.

“This is so beyond confidential, Miss Luthor. If I have an inkling you’re going to share this with anyone, I’ll have to remove your memories of this whole day, if not a little more. And I’ll spike your coffee with amphetamines on a future day of my choosing. Probably at a board meeting.”

Lena blanched.

“I’ll risk it. My day can’t really get much worse, surely?” Lena said.

“Don’t tempt the gods,” M’gann warned. “I’m from Mars. There were two different humanoid species on the planet. I’m a White Martian, and the others were the Greens. They were smaller than us, non-violent. I’m sure you can guess how that turned out for them. I was disgusted by the whole thing, by what I’d seen, by what I’d done. They were being slaughtered. I didn’t even decide to do it; one day I just… couldn’t do it anymore. I started trying to get them to safety, the Greens, until my fellow White Martians saw what I was doing and started hunting me. I fled the planet, and after some indecision I came here. I knew I could impersonate anyone so I decided to try to live out a peaceful life here on Earth. Try to atone, if such a thing were possible. A little while back, I met this cop at my bar – she was seeing one of my barmaids until she met her own soulmate – and she told me that she was pretty sure there was ‘another’ Green Martian out there. That’s what I told everyone – that I was Green. If they’d known who I really was they would have been terrified.”

“And this Green, he – or she – they’re your match?” Lena asked, entranced by the story.

“He is. I can’t tell you who he is, but… I was so frightened at first, and then I saw the words on his skin. They were in our language, and they said, “Child of H’ronmeer, beloved and forgiven.” The universe or whatever, it told me that my god has forgiven me. And J’onn – even though his family, his entire people, were wiped out by my people, he accepted me. We merged – not like that, you dirty-minded human,” M’gann glared, swiping at Lena’s hand playfully. “Think of it like a Vulcan mind-meld. Remember when I told you that I didn’t know how to lie, before? That’s what I meant. We would all merge together in this great sea of souls, and all of our decisions were made as a village, or as a people. Feeling that link again was… intense.”

M’gann leaned back, sighing.

“I… I never would have said this, before. But this soulmate bond is the real deal, Lena. It’s not to be trifled with. If you continue on this path, I think you’re going to do yourself and your soulmate serious harm. It might have seemed like a good idea, before, but it’s not. Not now.”

Lena looked at her, considering.

“I’ll think about it. I just… if she is hurt because of me, M’gann? I’ll never forgive myself.”

“And if your mother or Lex kills her in the meantime, and the last thing she remembers is you taking out a restraining order and turning deadly radiation on her? Would that be better?” M’gann asked, pointedly.

It hit Lena in the gut, like a punch or a gunshot, perhaps. Supergirl, those cornflower blue eyes fading, blood dripping from her hair.

“They’ll never stop,” Lena whispered. “If they know she loves me? That I love her? They’ll kill her, and they’ll do it in the most horrible way possible.”

“Do you think that if you don’t accept this bond, if you keep pushing her away, that your mother and your brother are going to stop their plans to get rid of the Kryptonians and every other off-worlder living here?”

“No,” Lena admitted.

“So what, exactly, is the point of this little charade, now? Supergirl has figured you out. You might as well try defending each other. The universe gave you to one another. You’re turning away a sacred gift, Lena.”

“I… I’ll think about it, M’gann. Thank you for being so… honest.”

“You’re welcome,” M’gann said, but then she frowned. “There’s something happening downstairs. Stay here.”

In a flash she was gone, and Lena was left standing in her office, not knowing what to do. In the end, she couldn’t help it, making her way as quietly as possible to the foyer where she found Hank Henshaw, or someone who looked an awful lot like him, attacking her security and the NCPD. M’gann was in her Martian form, knocking agents left and right, and Hank – who appeared to be some sort of cyborg, which Lena couldn’t work out – was throwing whatever he could find at whatever moved. Before Lena could react, he’d picked up the huge ‘L’ statue and thrown it at her. She didn’t have time to make a sound before a blur of red and blue was standing in front of her, the ‘L’ statue exploding into dust against an indestructible body.

“Get out of here!” Supergirl snarled, before throwing herself at the cyborg. Lena ran back to the stairwell, hiding until the noise abated. M’gann came to find her, checking she was all right.

“He was here for the isotope,” she explained.

“Is he… your Director?” Lena asked, thoroughly confused. 

“No. That’s a long story, Lena, which I will share with you another time. That guy works for Cadmus. He’s your mother’s right-hand man.”

“Okay,” Lena said, nodding. “Cyborg clones. Why wouldn’t there be cyborg clones?”

Lena went back to her office after giving a statement and ensuring that none of her staff were permanently injured, and she poured herself a scotch. She took a sip when she heard her phone make a noise in her desk drawer. It was Kara.

_I heard there was an attack at LCorp tonight. Are you safe? _

Lena considered for a moment before replying.

_I’m fine. A little shocked. Things have been fraught since I moved to National City. No-one was badly injured, thank god. _

_I’m glad. Make sure you get some rest. Kara x_

Lena’s heart sank all over again. She’d hoped that Kara might come to her aid, come to her side and comfort her in her hour of need. But she didn’t deserve it, did she? After the way she’d treated Supergirl, why would anyone want to be there for her? If karma was a real thing, she didn’t deserve comfort from Kara when she’d caused such pain to someone else.

She drained her scotch and gathered her belongings, and M’gann met her at the elevator, driving her home. It took another half a bottle before she could sleep.

The first thing she did the next morning was to call her mother and tell her to drop by if she still wanted the item they’d been talking about.


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara confronts Alex and J'onn, and Lena gives Lillian the isotope.

* * *

Supergirl touched down as gently as she could on the DEO balcony. A quick scan of the control centre showed that Alex and J’onn were both there.

She made her way into the building, cape snapping behind her with every step. Alex looked up and smiled, and then blanched when she saw the expression on Kara’s face.

“Kara, what’s…”

“I need to see you both now,” Kara said, nodding at J’onn and Alex. “Is there a room free, Agent Vasquez?”

Vasquez looked up, startled, and nodded, swallowing.

“Yes ma’am. Interview room 3.”

Kara nodded and continued walking, and was gratified to hear that Alex and J’onn were following her. She really didn’t need any challenges about who was in charge right now. They’d fucked with her soulmate, of all things. That was not okay.

She turned and slapped the unopened envelope on the table.

“What’s this?” J’onn rumbled, crossing his arms. He was trying to be intimidating, to tell Kara that she was over the line, but she was in no mood to deal with it.

“Apparently, you’ve agreed to enforce it, so shouldn’t you know what it is?” Kara asked flatly.

Alex sat down, opening the envelope.

“A restraining order?”

“Yes, Alex. A restraining order. And please do not pretend that this is brand new information for you. I can only assume you also gave the go-ahead for Miss Luthor to have kryptonite emitters installed in her office. It took me a while to work it out. At first I thought I was just crazy, that I deserved to be alone. I mean, why wouldn’t I be? Kal-El rejected me, why wouldn’t everyone else, even my soulmate?”

Alex winced at that, swallowing convulsively.

Kara continued. “One thing I couldn’t work out was why my sister, of all people, wouldn’t stand in my corner? If I hadn’t already figured it out, this would have been the clincher,” Kara said, tapping the envelope. “Lena took out a restraining order, but I haven’t done a thing wrong other than save her life. And try to talk to her about our soulmarks, about who we could be to each other. For her to take such drastic action against me in response to fairly innocuous behaviour on my part, and for you to support it? That made me realise that you really don’t want me to be with her. Which led me to why, and the only reason I can think of is that you all think you’re protecting me from something. Since I’ve already been kidnapped by her mother, and she’s used my blood to get a virus that could kill every alien in the city, I really have to question your motivation in carrying on with this.”

Kara was leaning over the table, fingers stabbing into – and through - the envelope so hard that she put fingermarks into the metal tabletop.

“Supergirl, we have a job to do, and part of that job is to protect you. You’re our most valuable asset,” J’onn said, attempting to be intimidating. Kara looked at him flatly.

“I won’t be any kind of an asset if you interfere with my personal life in this way again,” Kara said, tonelessly. “I am not your employee, nor your subordinate agent. I am a free agent and I have chosen in the past to work with you. You both know how important this is to me, the soul bond and not wanting to be alone. And now I find that you think you know better than the universe, or the gods, and that you have the right to keep me away from my soulmate. I haven’t even got words to tell you how I feel about that – you especially, Alex. You’re my sister. I love you, and today when Lena turned on those Kryptonite emitters I knew that you were the one to give the technology to her. My heart is broken. My friends and family turn their back on me and my wishes to what? Protect me from people who have already captured me and hurt me and who killed 50 aliens, including Mon-El, just a day ago?”

Alex started to say something, but Kara help up a hand.

“No. I don’t want to hear it, Alex. Or anything from you, either, Director. You both have soulmates. Perhaps that’s why you decided that your opinion on my romantic life was more important than my right to choose who I’m with.”

“She doesn’t want to be with Supergirl,” J’onn said, despite her warnings.

“If that’s so, then I will honour her wishes. I’m not a stalker or someone she needs to be protected from, and you both know that. That you would even hint that I would force my company on her – or worse - it makes me sick,” Kara said, eyes like flint. “I don’t want to hear from either of you unless it’s a Supergirl emergency. I assume you can take care of this restraining order? Because if it’s not withdrawn by tomorrow morning then I will release it to the press, and then Lillian and Lex and everyone else in the world will know that I’m Lena’s soulmate and this whole charade will be over.”

Kara turned on her heel, ignoring Alex crying out to her. When she arrived at her apartment, she sent a message to Maggie asking if she could come by. She did, and Kara told her the whole sorry tale. Judging from Maggie’s expression, Alex’s soulmate was going to have a few words to say to her later.

“They really did that? They admitted it?”

“More or less,” Kara shrugged. “J’onn even said that she doesn’t want Supergirl. I said that if that were true, I would stay away and honour her wishes. They were making out that I was a danger to her. I can’t even… I feel like I’m in Bizarro world, you know? Like, a few weeks ago I was the city’s protector, and now I’m some sort of predator who people need protection from?”

“It’s not your fault, Kara. I think they started with good intentions, thinking they should mess with the universe. But it’s gone too far now. If Lena Luthor doesn’t want you then that’s fine. I mean, it’s not. But so be it. That’s the way she wants it, that’s her choice. But the DEO shouldn’t be getting involved in your private life like this. You deserve a private life and your own choices. For what it’s worth I think you did right.”

“Thanks, Maggie. I’m not going to go anywhere near Lena unless she’s in mortal danger. Other than that, I don’t know what else I can do.”

“Just be patient, kid. I think things might still work out in the end.”

***

It all went as planned. Lena expressed some mild anti-alien rhetoric, her mother smiled, and she handed over the doctored isotope.

“Why are you doing this? I didn’t think you believed in the cause,” Lillian said, lips curved into what might have been a smile.

“It’s not my cause, but you’re still my family. And like it or not, you’re all I’ve got. Maybe if we can get rid of these off-worlders once and for all, we can be a real family. We can free Lex and go somewhere, settle away from here.”

Lillian smiled widely, her snake’s smile, Lena had always called it. The one she wore when she knew she’d won. The one she wore when she was about to strike.

The cyborg version of Director Henshaw drove them to the docks, where a rocket was ready to launch. Lillian added the isotope to the rocket’s payload before handing the keys to Lena.

“Be a Luthor, darling. Show me you’re with me.”

  
Lena smiled, turning the key to launch the missile. A second later she saw two shapes grabbing at the missile – a huge white shape and a smaller, dark-clothed shape. They were pulling at the missile, changing its course, and Lillian tutted.

“Always interfering. I wonder which species that one is?” she muttered, searching through her keys to find something. A remote detonator. She pressed the button and the missile exploded in mid-air. The two Martians – or so Lena guessed from the shape – were blown back by the explosion, falling from the sky at speed. A smaller blur appeared then, catching both falling bodies and putting them down gently near Lillian and Lena.

“Miss Luthor. Did you do this?” the Green Martian asked. His voice was familiar.

“I did.” Lena said, arms crossed. Orange fire was falling from the sky, and the Martian looked up at the stars, saying something in another language. Supergirl was standing next to the White Martian, both staring at Lena. When the orange fire landed around them, Lillian was smiling smugly. Until nothing happened.

There was a pause, and then - “You did this. You switched the isotope,” Lillian said, mouth open.

“I did,” Lena said. “And I called the police,” she said, holding a hand up to one ear mockingly.

Lillian looked at her in surprise and with a hint of respect. The Green Martian came over to put a set of restraints on Lillian’s wrists. At that moment, the cyborg appeared from nowhere and attacked the Green Martian and Supergirl. Lena watched, heart in her mouth, as the man who was made from metal punched her soulmate in the face, sending her 20 feet in the air. The Green Martian grabbed him from behind, restraining him, and he responded by shooting a blue laser from one eye, burning the Martian’s arm and then firing at Supergirl. She caught it with her heat vision, and he picked up a large piece of concrete, throwing it at her in an effort to distract her and get to Lillian. He tried his best to rescue his mistress but when the White Martian hit him with a backhand, he flew over the tops of several buildings. M’gann growled something after him in the Martian language, and Lena had to focus hard so that she didn’t start giggling. Shock, perhaps.

M'gann shifted back into her human form, nodding at Lena. The police arrived at just that moment, and Lena noticed the Green Martian changing, too.

She didn’t realise at first, but it finally dawned on her that M’gann’s mate was also the Director of the shadowy agency that Alex Danvers belonged to. It felt like the last piece of the puzzle sliding into place.

The police took Lillian away and then took Lena’s statement. She refused to go with them to the station that night, inviting them to her office for a full statement in the morning. The cop just smiled at her, and it puzzled her. Police officers or… detectives didn’t smile at a Luthor. She smiled back tentatively at the woman and then grabbed her phone to call a driver to take her home.

“Miss Luthor?”

It was Supergirl. Lena turned to look at her, face as impassive as she could manage.

“Before you tell me to go away, I just want you to know that I spoke to my agency. I’ve told them that they either pull the restraining order, or I’m going to make public that you’re my soulmate. Then whatever ridiculous ideas you have about protecting me won’t matter anymore. Not that they really do, now. I’m telling you this because I want… no, I _need_ you to know. I will still protect you if you need it, like I would any other citizen of National City. But this is the last time we talk, at least unless you come to your senses and apologise to me. I’m not, and have never been trying to force my attentions on you. I didn’t do anything to deserve this treatment, and not only have you broken my heart, but my sister and my friends have, too, by going along with this and providing you with Kryptonite emitters as if I were some beast who can’t be controlled. I can’t honestly say that I’ll ever be able to forgive that. In any case, we’re done. You needn’t worry about me landing on your balcony unless it’s to get you to safety and leave you there. Goodbye.”

Supergirl shot off into the sky without allowing Lena the time to answer.

“Wow. She’s really, really mad. Are you still thinking about keeping this up, Lena?” M’gann asked, appearing at her side as if by magic.

“No. I can’t. I’ve already hurt her so much,” Lena said, hand over her mouth, just managing to stifle a sob. Just then, her driver showed up, and M’gann helped her to her car, sitting next to her and making sure she was securely strapped in. Lena fell asleep almost immediately, head lolling to one side, and she didn’t stir when M’gann lifted her and carried her up into her elevator and then her penthouse, pulling off her shoes and wrapping her up in a comforter.

The next thing M’gann did was to contact J’onn Jonzz, to tell him that agreeing to keep Supergirl and Lena Luthor apart was proving severely detrimental to both people involved, and he thanked her for the call and the information before saying something extremely naughty in the Martian tongue.


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara cuts off her friendship with Lena, Lillian decides to kidnap Lena, and things go tits up from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, folks. I would say I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, but it turns out I'm not :)

* * *

* * *

Kara was mercifully busy over the next week, with endless editing to do along with writing her articles on the Medusa virus and the rogue rocket launch, and Lillian Luthor’s arrest. Noticeably absent were quotes from LCorp’s CEO, and when Snapper told her to get a quote from the woman, Kara told him that he could either get the quotes himself or he could find himself a new stringer. He backed away, confused into silence, Kara thought, but no matter the reason, she wasn’t going to be approaching Lena Luthor again unless it was life or death.

She was following a lead on a story about a missing girl when she ended up being abducted by a group of slave traders, headed by Veronica Sinclair, someone who Kara had come across recently when she was running an illegal alien fight club. She ended up on Slaver's Moon, Maaldoria. Thanks to an emergency beacon sewed into all of Kara’s clothes, she was able to summon the DEO to find her. Which was just as well, considering that she was on the other side of the Milky Way. Winn got the transmat portal working which meant she was able to bring back the missing girl and a number of other young people who’d been taken as slaves. And she got to get one over on Veronica Sinclair/Roulette, who had masterminded the whole intergalactic slave trade. Leaving her behind with the angry slave traders was the highlight of Kara’s month.

When she got back home from that jaunt, she had 8 messages from Lena.

_Kara I would love to see you if you have the chance, to thank you for the honesty in your article about the Medusa virus and my part in stopping it. _

_Kara, I heard from Snapper that you’re on assignment but he doesn’t know or care where, as long as you’re not disturbing his first coffee of the day. How do you work for that man? _

_Kara, I’m beginning to get worried. Did I do something to upset you?_

_Okay, so either you don’t have your phone, you’re indisposed in some way, or you’re ignoring me. I hope you’ll tell me which it is. Be well. _

_To be perfectly honest, Kara, I don’t have a single other friend here. Apart from my bodyguard, possibly, but she’s being paid to be here. So I don’t know if I can count her, though she is kind and caring. I’m feeling at a bit of a loss with something in my personal life, and I hoped you might be so kind as to listen. _

_And now I’m just blowing up your phone and you probably think I’m a crazy stalker. I am sorry. _

_Kara, I just heard on the news that a reporter on a missing persons case was abducted to another planet and was rescued by Supergirl. Even if you’re mad to me, Kara, could you please let me know you’re okay? _

_I’ll stop hounding you now. I’m sorry. _

Kara pushed her hair back away from her face, blinking. What the hell was she supposed to say to this… barrage?

_Lena. I’m fine. I just arrived back on Earth after being interviewed by NCPD. My phone was on Earth, but I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have had a signal out there, anyway. _

_My God, Kara. Are you okay? How did you end up in space? _

_I was on a moon, technically. But the story should run first thing tomorrow, if you’re interested in the details. _

_I’m not great at texting etiquette or emojis, but even I can sense that you don’t want to speak to me. Could you tell me what I did, please? _

_You didn’t do anything, Lena. Or not to me, at least. But you might remember that one of my closest friends is Supergirl._

_Oh. She told you everything, I assume? _

_Everything. Kryptonite emitters, Lena. Against someone who would never lift a finger to harm you? Did you see how much they hurt her? I’ve been there before when someone has attacked her with that stuff, and it’s awful. Even if you don’t want the girl, you were unnecessarily cruel. And you were coming on to me the whole time. I’m not sure what I should make of that, to be quite honest. But from now I think it would be better if we maintained a professional relationship. I’m sorry I can’t be the friend you need. _

Lena didn’t reply.

Two days later, Kara was called into the DEO.

“What is it, Director?” she asked, looking up at the viewscreens.

“Lillian Luthor and John Corben were released last night from National City Jail. We have video evidence proving that Lena Luthor was responsible, and she was arrested last night. I’m having Winn check every line of code in that file, before you protest her innocence. I don’t believe she’s guilty either. The salient point here is that Miss Luthor was abducted from her jail cell and is in the company of the man who tried to kill her a few months ago and her mother, who she just betrayed to the police. Are you in, Supergirl? It’s likely that we’ll need your skills to deal with this.”

“Of course I’m in,” Kara snapped. “What do you need me to do?”

J’onn looked at her levelly for a moment before nodding.

“Miss Luthor provided us with a detailed list of LCorp facilities and labs that were used by Cadmus before they went underground. We have already raided a number of those facilities, but we don’t know where she might be. Do you have any idea what the Luthor woman might be looking for?”

“How on E arth would I know?” Kara asked, with a grimace.

J’onn held up his hands.

“I meant Lillian, not Lena. She took your blood. Do you think it was only so she could get the Medusa virus, or could there have been more to it?”

“She didn’t say anything other than that she wanted to get rid of all aliens, and she really, really wants me and Kal gone.”

“Sir, we had a report from a group of Hosian diplomats a few days ago that one of their smaller cargo ships had been stolen by a man with a metal head and a computer for a brain. It was filed as a prank, but if Lillian wanted to get rid of aliens, she could kidnap them and send them to the other side of the Milky Way. They’d never come back, that’s for sure.”

It was Vasquez, nodding solemnly at Kara as she handed a tablet to J’onn.

“Goddammit. Find the person who ignored this, Vasquez, and have them get ready for their new job building a moon base without a space suit. Where did this happen?”

The Hosians were docked on the dark side of the moon, out of view of Earth, and they had been visiting a group of Eritaz traders on their larger ship when they discovered that their frigate was being towed, somehow, by a humanoid in a small but powerful ship. The man had one blue eye and some metal skin. No wonder the reports had been dismissed.

Kara swore under her breath. Hosian frigates were huge, and if Cadmus had somehow managed to get a hold of the alien registry, they could target every single alien in the city and send them away with little chance of ever returning.

Within a few minutes, Vasquez and J’onn had narrowed down the probable location of the frigate to a three-mile area, and within that radius was one of the Cadmus facilities Lena had told the DEO about. Kara flew off at speed, J’onn with her. They found a huge mess – aliens being forced into the ship at gunpoint, all sorts of anti-alien weapons in the arms of the Cadmus agents who had abducted them. And a massive ship.

“You take the agents, I’m gonna take out the hyperbolic drive,” Kara said, and J’onn nodded. He phased in and out, knocking guards left and right, and Kara smiled before flying into the ship at eye-watering speed. She quickly located the engineering section and, drawing from her lessons on different types of space-faring technology when she was a child, located and thoroughly destroyed the hyperbolic drive and the secondary drives to ensure that this ship was now only useful as a dwelling or a museum. As soon as the drive was destroyed, she turned, and was met with a metal fist to the face, followed by a Kryptonite needle in her neck.

***

Lena woke up in an unfamiliar bed. She’d cried herself to sleep for the previous two nights, drunk out of her mind, because Kara Danvers didn’t want to be her friend. She knew exactly how juvenile she sounded when she said that, but it was the simple truth. Kara was her only friend, and the only one she really wanted to talk to about Supergirl. Obviously coming on to her had been a terrible mistake, since she was bound to find out about the soulmate thing eventually. But for her to turn Lena away completely – that had been a shock.

She looked around the small room, noting that it was very much like a cell. There was a bed, a toilet hallway hidden behind a tiled wall, and a sink. That was it. She stood, stretching herself, and found that there were no less than 3 cameras on her.

“Whoever you are, come and let me out,” Lena demanded, staring into the camera above the door. No answer was forthcoming, so she pulled the thin mattress from the bed and used it to do some yoga exercises. No point in letting her body waste away – judging from the number of attempted kidnappings/attempts on her life, if she didn’t get in a workout now and again while imprisoned or recovering, she’d never get any exercise.

The door opened without warning, and Lena stayed perfectly in position. It was the cyborg man with the half-human/half-metal face.

“Your mother wants to see you,” he growled. She hadn’t even known he could speak.

“Fine,” she said, dismounting and standing up, pushing her hair away from her face. The cyborg went to grab her arm, but she glared and he muttered something under his breath, but left her alone.

He led her across a dingy warehouse (of course) that seemed to hold some sort of control mechanism and what looked to be a small spacecraft. Her mother was standing by the control panel, and she nodded at the cyborg sharply as he led Lena to a chair. He secured her arms to the back of the chair using handcuffs, and she rolled her eyes. Where was she going to go, anyway?

The cyborg disappeared from view then, and her mother approached her, lifting her chin so she could look Lena in the eye.

“You pulled quite the con on me, Lena. I was actually impressed. Unfortunately, the failure of the Medusa virus meant that I had to take more desperate measures. My cyborg has been searching for suitable ships for the last week or so, and a few days ago he hit paydirt. A Hosian frigate with a hyperbolic drive. I had programmed it to leap to the other side of the galaxy and then head for the centre of the hottest star it could find, but Supergirl came along to destroy it. Now all I have left is this,” she indicated the ship next to them, “and of course I have you. I don’t know what it is about you, daughter, but it seems that the Last Daughter of Krypton is hellbent on keeping you safe. Which means she’ll do anything I tell her. Kryptonite poisoning isn’t enough, not while she’s under a yellow star. Superman’s resurrection proved that. So we need her to be elsewhere when the Kryptonite is deployed.”

Lena’s eyes widened, and she knew that she was yelling something, but then Lillian was stuffing a piece of cloth into her mouth and putting tape over it.

“Now, now, dear. That’s not how I taught you to speak to your elders. I want to tell you what’s going to happen next. Supergirl is on her way, and I’m going to offer her whatever she wants in exchange for toddling off in that spaceship. She will swear never to come back, I’ll swear whatever she wants, and when she’s out of our star system and under a red star, the Kryptonite gas will kill her. It’s only one Kryptonian down, but the game’s not over yet. I’m playing the long game here; I have to. They’ve been landing here for god knows how many years. I intend to keep this earth safe for you and your brother, darling. Whether you believe it or not. And while I know that you were lying through your teeth, I would like nothing better than to leave this stinking city behind and move somewhere befitting the Luthor legacy, with my son and daughter in tow. Why don’t you have a think about that while I finish programming Supergirl’s flying coffin.”

Lillian sashayed off, and Lena screamed into her gag. She had made her decision – she was planning to ask Agent Danvers to send her to Supergirl, or Supegirl to her, so that she could apologise, but naturally her fucking mother had to kidnap her instead. And if Supergirl sacrificed herself for the sake of Lena’s freedom or whatever… Lena knew that Lillian would never abide by whatever terms she set, and that Supergirl would be dead as soon as the spaceship landed in a red sun system.

She screamed into her gag until Lillian, staring at her in irritation, made a gesture towards the cyborg. He walked towards Lena, grinning, and backhanded her so hard that she passed out.

***

Kara woke in a cell, surrounded by Kryptonite. No sooner had she stood up than Hank Henshaw, the cyborg, was in the room, dragging her along behind him. He pulled her across a large, dank warehouse to a platform with lots of lights and buttons on it. And a small ship, only a little bigger than her escape pod from Krypton. Henshaw stood next to Kara, Kryptonite glowing from every section of his tactical suit.

Lillian Luthor was sitting there next to an unconscious Lena. Lillian smiled at Kara smugly. She looked feral. 

“You have two choices, Supergirl. Get on that ship and leave this planet forever, or I’ll kill her.”

Lillian lifted a gun and pointed it at Lena’s head and Kara couldn’t bear it.

“Fine, Lillian. I’ll go. Just give me five minutes with my sister. But I will only do this if you make one promise to me in return.”

Lillian looked at her curiously.

“And what would that be?”

“You leave Lena out of this. Out of all of your alien business. Stop using LCorp resources – I’m sure you can find funding elsewhere. Whatever you do, leave the Luthor name out of it. Never see her again, never bother her again, and leave her in peace to run the company that she brought back from the dead with her own talent. You don’t need LCorp funds or properties, we both know that. Hell, your own personal money could run Cadmus for decades. So, let me go. I’ll be back once I’ve spoken to my sister and then I’ll get in your ship and you’ll never see me again.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot, Supergirl? If you go, I have no leverage.”

“You hold all the leverage,” Kara stated, flatly.

“Very well,” Lillian said, an amused smile flitting across her face. “Five minutes, Supergirl.” She nodded at Henshaw, who flipped a switch on his suit, switching off the Kryptonite emitters.

Kara dashed off, hoping that Lillian would keep her word. She homed in on Alex’s heartbeat, and found Alex and Maggie driving around nearby, doubtless searching for her. She landed in front of their car, scaring the shit out of them. Alex and Maggie jumped out of the car, running to her.

“What the hell, Kara? What happened?”

“I haven’t got time, Alex. I have to go. I made a bargain with Lillian Luthor. I’ll leave earth if she leaves Lena alone. I gave my word. If she breaks hers, I’ll need you to call me back, okay? I still have my half of the spy beacon, here,” she tapped her belt. “My Aunt Astra – I grabbed her half before we sent her home to Rao. It’s in my hiding place in my room. As long as Lillian stays away from Lena, I’ll stay away. I love you. I love you both,” Kara said. She took off her mother’s necklace, handing it to Alex, and she hugged and kissed Alex and Maggie both.

“Kara, you can’t leave. We need you. Please,” Alex begged, eyes streaming.

“I’m sorry. I love you. Say goodbye to everyone for me,” Kara said, and then she was gone.

She arrived back in the dingy dungeon-type room with a minute to spare.

“Ah. There you are, Supergirl. Marvellous. It’s wonderful how predictable you noble types are.”

“Sure,” Kara said, sighing. “Can I say goodbye to Lena, please?”

Lillian waved the gun dismissively, and Kara went to kneel in front of Lena, who was semi-conscious. Kara stroked her face gently, and Lena started, waking up. When she saw Kara, she turned away, eyes filling with tears.

“Hey. Look at me, just this once, will you?” Kara asked softly. “I know you don’t feel anything for me, and that’s fine. Just… let me see you, just once?”

Lena looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Kara said, gesturing at Lillian. “I really hope she leaves you alone, now. If this doesn’t do it, nothing will. Your soulmark says, ‘Kara, beloved of Rao.” Rao is… was… my God. I thought you might want to know. My mark says this.”

_Fare thee well, my back-haired diamond_

_Fare thee well, my own Aisling. _

“I think that Aisling might be your birth name,” Kara said, and Lena’s eyes widened. “I hope that you’ll keep this, just to remember me by,” Kara said, removing her cape and laying it over Lena’s lap. “If you don’t want it, please see that it gets to Superman. Goodbye, _:zrhueiao_.”

Kara stood, tears blinding her, blinking.

* * *

“Oh, get on with it, Supergirl. Enough of the theatrics.”

“Fine. But if you don’t keep your promise, I’ll find a way back, Lillian Luthor. You have my word on that.”

Lillian nodded smugly.

“Goodbye and good riddance,” she said, sniffing dismissively.

Kara turned back to look at Lena once more. She was trying to say something through the gag, but she couldn’t. Kara smiled at her serenely and stepped inside the tiny spacecraft, strapping herself into the chair. Lillian pressed a button on a nearby control panel, and the ship’s engines rumbled to life.

Kara held Lena’s eyes through the viewer as the ship slowly hovered and then took off through huge doors that opened out of one side of the building. The ship turned, and she couldn’t see Lena anymore, so she closed her eyes and sent a prayer to Rao for her soulmate’s safety.

She leaned back in the chair, the restraints hugging her chest more and more tightly as the ship flew upwards, passing the speed of sound within seconds. She felt the ‘whump’ of the main engines kicking in as soon as they cleared Earth’s atmosphere, and she prayed to Rao again that she might find a home somewhere out among strange stars. She cried her heart out, falling asleep shortly afterwards, her heart breaking. She didn’t notice when a thick green gas began to fill the cabin and then her lungs.


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Lillian and Kara's bargain

* * *

* * *

Alex and Maggie had called in the full might of the DEO. They’d been scattered, dealing with the attempted abduction of hundreds of aliens and a number of other issues that might very well have been distractions on Cadmus’ part. Alex called them all together and they struck simultaneously at the co-ordinates showing from Kara’s tracker. Kara didn’t know she was being tracked, on this occasion, because Alex had planted it on her cape after she landed in front of Maggie’s car, babbling nonsense about leaving Earth to save Lena from her mother.

There were only 3 people in the facility. Lillian Luthor was locking a door and Hank Henshaw was carrying a limp Lena Luthor over his shoulder. There was no need for any sort of altercation when there were three hundred or so heavily armed agents against two. Winn, bless his heart, had found a way to switch off the cyborg, and once he was out of the picture Lillian Luthor offered no resistance.

“Where is my sister, you fucking harpy?” Alex asked. They had dragged Lillian back into the warehouse where there appeared to be some sort of a control centre for something.

“You’ll never find her in time, Agent Danvers. And it’s her own fault. I told her not to go up against me. If she happens to survive the Kryptonite poisoning, once she’s out of Sol’s reach, she’ll still be powerless in a red sun system, and she’ll finally be joining her parents. I believe she is named after a star in Krypton’s star system. It’s fitting, then, that she will die in the heart of a red star.”

Alex punched Lillian in the face so hard that she broke several bones in her hand. She cradled it, absently, moving to Lena’s side.

Maggie was trying to wake Lena in the background. Lena was clutching Kara’s cape to her chest like a lifeline.

Lena was just stirring, and her eyes went wide with panic when she saw Alex and Maggie and Lillian all in her line of sight. Maggie had already undone her handcuffs, so they peeled off the gag and whatever dirty wad of cotton Lillian had used to keep Lena quiet. They gave her some water and waited for her to speak.

“Lillian told Supergirl that she’d leave me alone as long as she got on that ship and never came back. But it’s programmed to poison Supergirl with Kryptonite, probably to incapacitate her for long enough that the pod can fly her into the nearest red sun,” Lena got out, coughing throughout.

“How did Lillian programme it?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know. Something up there, with all of those controls,” Lena said, looking desperate.

“Go, have a look and see if you can make any sense out of it,” Alex said, pushing Lena up and towards the bank of lights and buttons. “Somebody get me Agent Schott here ASAP! Supergirl’s life is in danger.”

A white streak shot through the warehouse a second or two later. It was M’gann, in White Martian form, holding a green-looking Winn Schott.

He threw up as soon as she set him down.

“What am I looking at?” he said, as soon as he’d straightened up and washed out his mouth.

“Lillian Luthor used something up there to programme a ship. It’s going to kill Kara with Kryptonite, somehow. I’m guessing a gas. And if she doesn’t die before they get to a red sun system, she’ll still be powerless when she gets into a red sun system. She won’t survive getting flown into a sun. Go help Lena.”

Alex watched Lena and Winn talk, a mile-a-minute while pressing buttons and typing at high speed. It must have been ten minutes later when they were finished, both looking exhausted.

“It was encrypted, but the encryption was similar to the code that I broke on that video that was used to frame Lena. We reached the ship and it’s turning back to Earth. There’s no way to tell whether the Kryptonite was already deployed or not, but we’ve done all we can,” Winn said, studying the monitor in front of him fixedly. 

“Okay. M’gann, can you be ready to take Supergirl back to the DEO with all speed as soon as the ship lands? Marcus, Flint, I need you two to use your piloting skills to get that ship back to the DEO hangar. We need to know where the hell they got this ship from,” Alex said. “I need Alpha and Beta teams checking every corner of this place. We need to know what else they’ve been up to.”

Winn and Lena were still studying screens and readouts, and every now and then they would mutter something to each other before going back to staring.

“Okay, if my calculations are right, she should be re-entering Earth orbit right about… now,” Winn said. Alex ran outside the doors, looking up at the sky. It took another few minutes, but there _was_ a ship. Small, sleek, black. At any other time Alex might have been impressed by it.

“Remember, M’gann. The DEO, all haste, okay? We don’t know if she’s alive or dead or anything in between,” Alex said, as she walked back into the warehouse.

M’gann nodded, still in White Martian form. The ship landed smoothly inside the hangar, pirouetting round so that the door was facing them. M’gann pulled the door open, finding Kara strapped to a chair, face white. She looked dead.

“She’s not breathing. I have to go,” M’gann said, and then they were gone.

It took a while to get everything under control, but once it was, Alex talked with Maggie briefly and they agreed that Lena could go to the DEO with them. The woman was desperate to see Kara, to try to make it up to her, and she hadn’t stopped crying, even as she and Winn had been programming the ship to return in a totally new language they’d just learned. She looked pitiful and tiny, Kara’s cape wrapped around her like a shield.

The ride back to the DEO was short and tension-filled. A few agents had caught wind of some rumours, the main one being that Lena Luthor had hurt Supergirl somehow, and there were glares from several agents as the Blackhawk made its way silently through National City. Alex glared back, waiting for the DEO healing serum to kick in and heal her broken hand. The agents suddenly found a different direction in which to look.

When they landed the DEO was in uproar. There were lost aliens trying to find their families, agents who’d been injured at some point or another during the day, and a lot of people standing around staring towards the infirmary. Alex was grateful to see that J’onn was in the thick of it and getting everything under control. She led Maggie and Lena to medical, where Dr Hamilton and her staff were bustling around urgently. Alex asked them for an update.

“She’s not breathing and we can’t get her heart beating. Her powers haven’t blown – in fact I think that’s part of the problem. Her body is resisting everything we give her, even with the Kryptonite lights turned to full,” Dr Hamilton said.

Lena sobbed behind them, and Alex let Maggie deal with that. Kryptonian physiology was her thing, not emotional support, especially of women who had hurt her sister so deeply. She thought for a minute, then decided it was time to use her new formula to kickstart Kara’s heart back into some sort of rhythm. She sent an intern off to her lab to grab some supplies, and when he returned she checked carefully before mixing two vials of liquid together, one green and one gold.

She injected Kara with the mixture of Kryptonite and Kryptonian adrenaline, among other things, and ordered one of the junior doctors to start compressions. He protested that he couldn’t do them on Supergirl, and she just glared until he did. To the man’s surprise, Kara’s ribcage gave under his hands, and in a few seconds he and Dr Hamilton had a good rhythm of compressions and breaths going. Alex grabbed the defibrillator, next, and told the others to stand back. She stuck the pads on Kara’s chest, and the machine shocked her, causing her back to arch, and Lena to sob louder behind them. Alex paid no attention to anything else, however, just watching the monitors until… there it was. A tiny bleep, then another, then another.

“Well done, Agent Danvers,” Dr Hamilton said, nodding in respect.

“The job isn’t done, doc,” Alex said, absently. She turned off the Kryptonite emitters and switched on the sun lamps, rearranging Kara’s limbs so that she wouldn’t be too uncomfortable when she woke. Because it was ‘when’. Alex wouldn’t entertain the thought of failure, not where Kara was involved. She stepped back, allowing Dr Hamilton to take over and put in lines to make sure Kara was still being fed enough calories, and other necessary but unpleasant things like catheters and the like. Alex shoo’d out any unnecessary personnel, thanking M’gann for getting here so quickly.

“No problem, Alex. She has a way of inspiring loyalty, your sister.”

“She does,” Alex agreed. She went to sit down, her legs suddenly numb, and she was a little surprised to see that her hands were shaking.

“Danvers? Stay here, okay? I’m going to get something for you to eat and drink while we wait for Kara to wake up, okay?”

Maggie was there, sweet Maggie, and Alex smiled at her. She was so lucky to have a soulmate like Maggie.

It was a few minutes later when Maggie was there again, and she made Alex drink some horrible coffee and eat a protein bar. She didn’t want to, but it cleared her head. She stood, checking Kara’s vitals, finding them to be the same as they were when she was resuscitated.

“How is she?” Lena asked, and Alex jumped. 

“I didn’t see you there, Lena. I’m sorry. She’s… pretty close to comatose, right now. Her body uses the radiation from the yellow sun to give her all of these powers, and right now it’s all she can do to keep herself alive. Only time will tell.”

She heard Lena crying, but her own face stayed dry. Kara had to come through this, because Alex couldn’t let things end this way. The last few times they’d seen each other, she’d been so busy keeping up the façade that Lena Luthor was a bad idea that she hadn’t even spoken to Kara, hadn’t even known if she was okay or not. It was unacceptable, so Kara had to be okay. She just had to be.

***

Lena woke on day two of her vigil at Kara’s bedside with Kara still asleep. Kara, who was Supergirl. For some reason, Lena hadn’t put it together when Kara had told her what her soulmark said, just before she got into the spacecraft.

_Kara, beloved of Rao_.

In Lena’s defence, there had been a lot going on, so perhaps she could be forgiven for missing that. She’d only realised when M’gann and Alex were talking, once Kara was stabilised, and M’gann referred to Supergirl as Alex’s sister. Still, it had taken an embarrassingly long time for that to sink in. She also realised, embarrassingly, that Supergirl had actually let slip that she had a sister, and from context Lena should have known that she was talking about Alex. Some part of Lena wanted to be upset that Kara hadn’t trusted her, but the more sensible part knew exactly why. Lena hadn’t exactly given either Kara or Supergirl the impression that she was trustworthy or that she would react well to finding out that her sort-of friend Kara Danvers was the super-human being she had been avoiding like the plague.

She got up and had a quick wash in the DEO shower rooms, satisfied that Kara was safe and Alex and Maggie were still watching over her. When she came back, Alex and Maggie were stirring, so she sat next to Kara’s bed, carrying on with the book she’d been reading to Kara the night before. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. Because it seemed like the sort of whimsy that would appeal to Kara. Not that Lena really knew her, but she thought this fitted Kara’s personality.

She was hoarse by the time Alex interrupted her, demanding that she go to the commissary for some lunch. She and Maggie went together, both as black-eyed and exhausted as the other.

“So, how are you feeling today, Luthor?” Maggie asked, as she filled a huge cup with coffee and way, way too much sugar.

“I’m fine,” Lena said, automatically. “Just worried.”

Maggie nodded.

“And what are you planning to do, once Supergirl wakes up? Is it gonna be the way it was, all head bitch in charge and restraining orders? Or are you ready to acknowledge that there might be a little more to this soulmate thing than you thought?” Maggie asked, acerbically.

“I never… I never meant to disparage soul bonds, Detective. That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted her to be safe. When I moved to National City, it was this last-ditch attempt to make it work, to see if I could turn it all around, my name and my company. Then Supergirl popped up, and I was horrified, because once people realised that there was a new Super in National City and that I’d chosen to take my company there, they’d think that I was just another Luthor and that I was targeting Supergirl. So when she and Superman saved my life, I was stunned. I’d expected them to come in like two sheriffs, telling me this town isn’t big enough for the three of us. But they treated me like a human being, and then when I got the soulmark… I was terrified of what my family would do to her if they knew. So I reacted badly, and I continued to react in a really shitty manner. But I swear I just wanted to keep her safe. I see now that it doesn’t matter. People like Lex and my mother can’t be predicted. We can only do our best to prepare for what they might do. If Supergirl wakes up and tells me to get the hell, out, then I will. But if she’ll let me, I’ll do anything I can to make this up to her. Anything.”

Maggie looked at her appraisingly, nodding once.

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. Because if you’d said anything different I would have thrown you right the hell out of this building myself. Through the balcony exit.”

Lena swallowed thickly.

“She’s lucky to have people like you on her side,” Lena said, wiping away a tear.

“Well, unless she tells me different, you’re family too, now, Luthor. So get used to it. Those Danvers girls – they care about each other so much. It takes some getting used to when you haven’t had a lot of love in your life. So you better start getting used to it.”

Maggie was looking at her levelly, and Lena could feel tears leaking from the sides of her eyes. She just nodded, wiping them away, before eating her quinoa salad.

When they returned to the room, Alex was snuggled up on the sunbed with Kara, snoring.

“Jesus fucking Christ. That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen,” Maggie said, taking out her phone and taking a picture of the sleeping sisters. “That’s going on facebook.”

“She’s wearing her suit. You can’t put that on facebook,” Lena pointed out. 

“Dammit. You’re right, Luthor. I’ll keep it for blackmail material later.” Maggie grinned, and Lena couldn’t help but grin back.

Kara woke up two hours into day 5 of her ‘coma’. Lena had started working from inside the DEO, catching up on all that had happened since her abduction. The stocks had done an about-face – a smooth dive off a cliff followed by a determined climb back up when it became clear that Lena had nothing to do with getting her mother and John Corben out of jail, and had in fact been instrumental in catching them. Now Lena was trudging through several days’ worth of emails. She deleted a lot of hate mail and was depressed to think how much they must have received, given that she was only seeing what had made it through the filters.

Kara coughed, and Lena touched her arm, absently, to soothe her. She coughed again a minute later, and then she moved.

Lena froze, turning to find Supergirl – Kara – staring at Lena and then at her own arm, where Lena was touching her gently.

“Oh, god. I’m sorry. You probably don’t want me to… Let me get you some water,” Lena said, standing and grabbing a pitcher from the table, pouring it into a cup. She turned to pass it to Kara, who took it gratefully, but with her other hand she held on to Lena’s arm lightly.

“Are you feeling okay?” Lena asked, uncertain what to do. She still had Supergirl’s – Kara’s – cape draped across her lap.

“Yes,” Kara rasped. “Comparatively speaking, I suppose. I feel alive, and I have a funny feeling that I wasn’t, for a while there. What happened?”

“My mother. She had no intention of sending you off to live elsewhere. As soon as the ship was far enough away from Earth, she poisoned you with Kryptonite. If you didn’t die from that, she had a backup plan, to send the ship into the heart of a red star. She really wanted you dead. Luckily we managed to get the ship back and revive you. I mean, when I say ‘we’ I mean Alex and Winn and M’gann, not me, not really. But here you are. Should I wake your sister and the doctor?”

“Not right now. Just… can I have a minute with you?” Kara asked.

Lena nodded doubtfully, sitting on her chair, Kara still holding her forearm gently.

“Did she hurt you?”

“Who, Lillian? No more than she had to,” Lena said, shrugging.

“Did they catch her?” Kara asked.

“They did. She’s in this very facility, and so is the cyborg. I think something happened to Corben. Alex knows the details,” Lena said, staring at her fingernails.

“Could you look at me, please, Lena?” Kara asked quietly.

Lena looked up, guilt filling her. The pain she had caused this woman was unbelievable. Yes, she had good intentions, but what was that saying about the road to hell?

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kara said quietly. “Don’t cry, Lena.”

“How can you say that?” Lena whisper-shouted. “Instead of tormenting you and telling you that I didn’t want you, I could have been working by your side to keep us all safe. I screwed it all up, and I don’t blame you if you never want to talk to me again, Kara. I don’t deserve you.”

Kara looked at her steadily for a moment.

“I can see that you’re sorry about what happened. That’s a relief; for a while I thought I was losing my mind and that I really was some sort of a threat to you. But… I don’t trust you. Not that I think you’ll hurt me or anyone. But… I can’t trust you right now, with me. With my heart. I tried, hard, to convince you that we could be a force together. That whatever was stopping you, we could handle it together, if you were just willing to try. And yes, I know that your intentions were good. But… you hurt me so much, Lena.”

There were tears in Kara’s eyes, and with her pale face and the dark bruises underneath her eyes, the sight hit Lena with an impact she could almost hear. She bit back her own tears, dropping her eyes and looking down at her fingers. She twisted them together.

Kara touched her hands gently, squeezing a little.

“I’m not saying that I never want to see you again. I’m just going to need a while. When I was on Krypton, there was no such thing as a soulmate. We paired off using this device called Matricomp. We’d give it our blood and it would come up with a match based on intelligence, interests, values. But love wasn’t a part of it. Soulmates, though. That was the only thing I liked more about this planet than Krypton. There was love, romance, a person that the universe or your god or mine or… whoever, had decreed that we were meant to be. And then you…”

Tears were dripping from Lena’s eyes now.

“And then I fucked it all up and broke your heart. Broke us.”

Kara was quiet for a moment.

“You haven’t broken us. At least, I hope not. But… you’ve broken me, for a while. And I need time to heal. I hope that you can respect that.”

“Of course,” Lena said, withdrawing one hand from under Kara’s and wiping away her tears. She didn’t deserve to cry in front of Kara, to make her feel guilty. Lena was the one who had done this.

“I really do understand why you did this. I know your intentions were good. And I am grateful that you don’t feel the way you convinced me you did.”

Lena winced.

“I understand. I… I should go. I’m sure Alex and your mom would like to know you’re okay. Things were touch and go there for a while.”

Kara took her hand away. Lena looked up. Kara swallowed.

“I guess I’ll see you around, then, Lena Luthor.”

“That you will, Supergirl,” Lena said. “And thank you for telling me what… what your soulmark says. I didn’t know what my name was, before the Luthors.”

Kara nodded gravely.

“Take care of yourself,” she said, but it sounded strained and uncomfortable.

Lena took the hint and stood, grabbing her jacket and walking to the door.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said quietly, before opening the door and stepping outside. She walked briskly down the corridor before finding a DEO guard and asking them to show her out.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see the Director or Agent Danvers before you go, Ma’am?” the agent asked politely.

“That’s fine, Agent. They know how to find me.”

She stepped out of the building and into the first cab that came by, letting it take her to L-Corp and straight to work where she could lose herself in work. Work that would be her salvation from now on. Work that was the only part of her life that had ever seemed to go right. She’d had a chance for more, a chance for real love, deep and true, and instead of trusting in it, instead of trusting that the universe had chosen the right person for her, she decided that she knew better. She’d never be able to forget the look in Supergirl… in Kara’s eyes, when Lena told her that she didn’t want her.

She bit her lip, holding back her tears. She didn’t deserve someone like Kara. The universe might have thought it was a good idea at first, but now it would probably take it back. Burn her soulmark from her skin, and find someone who was worthy of her. Lena hoped it would do exactly that, burn it from her skin, burn her in righteous fury and take away the chance at love. Take away her chance of love and joy and partnership, and leave her scarred in its wake.

She swore to herself that if she ever had a chance again, she would take it and do everything she could to make things up to Kara. But her heart and mind were one in that they didn’t believe for a moment that she would ever get that chance.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack Spheer comes into town, and Kara deals with her pain by cutting off the people who have hurt her. It turns out that Jack Spheer has brought trouble with him, and Kara and Lena are forced to work together.

* * *

* * *

Recovery was a bitch, Kara had realised. She hadn’t been this close to death since lifting Fort Rozz into space. Her family and the Superfriends were rallying around her, bringing her enough takeout to feed ten Kryptonians. She bravely soldiered through the food, not wanting to waste any. She was under the sunlamps and Alex kept telling her that she was recovering, but it was hard to feel that way when she kept falling asleep mid-sentence.

J’onn had tried to come and see her a few times, but she had given him a look that made him blanch and back away each time. She didn’t know how to forgive him for what he’d done. He was partially responsible for sullying what should have been a joyous experience, Kara meeting her soulmate.

Alex, too, was someone that Kara didn’t want to speak to or even be around. Unfortunately she was the most knowledgeable person on Earth about Kryptonian biology, so Kara had to let her sister treat her and monitor her condition. She did not, however, have to speak to her.

_“Kara, I understand that you must be upset. I mean, the soulbond has always been important to you. But I was doing what I thought was right. The further you stayed away from Lena Luthor, the better for both of you. Or so I thought. I never wanted you to be hurt. Please, can’t you understand?”_

_Kara had turned dead eyes on Alex, and Alex flinched. _

_“Get out,” she said, turning her head in the opposite direction. She heard Alex sniffling, but she didn’t soften her attitude. It was one thing to say you knew what was best for someone, but to do this? It was unconscionable. Like with J’onn, Kara didn’t know if she would ever be able to forgive it. _

Maggie and M’gann were her salvation during her stay at the DEO. Eliza had been around for the first couple of days but had had to return to Midvale to deal with a clinical trial that had somehow gone awry. Maggie and M’gann stayed with her in shifts, watching Netflix and movies on a huge tv that Winn had appropriated from J’onn for Kara. They talked a lot during that time, and Kara came to like Maggie even more, and she loved M’gann’s dry sense of humour and the joy that blossomed in her eyes when she thought of J’onn, despite Kara’s own feelings about the DEO Director.

She was released a week later, and Snapper welcomed her back with a snarl, telling her that her chair was gone. She sighed and went to her office, the one that Cat had given her after Fort Rozz. At least Snapper couldn’t take _that_ chair from her.

She was kept busy by work, finding herself immersed in the job and learning so much from Snapper about investigating and writing that she had to grudgingly admit to Cat that she had been right about the man being an excellent mentor. She began to get more and more bylines, her prose improving exponentially. Cat sent her a picture of what Kara recognised as the office in her home in Tuscany, with Kara’s exposé on Roulette - the alien fight clubs, and the slavers Kara had been captured by - framed and up on the wall. Carter was also in the picture, pointing at the framed article and grinning. Kara’s eyes welled with tears, and she smiled so hard that she thought she might hurt something.

She was working with the DEO, but she refused to deal with Alex or J’onn, naming Agent Vasquez as her contact and getting information and alerts from the agent, who was as always soothingly calm and steady. Alex kept trying to contact her, even bursting into her apartment a few times with her key, before Kara had the locks changed. Maggie told her that Alex was devastated about that, but she didn’t say it to make Kara feel guilty; rather, she said it sadly, as if she knew that Alex deserved the consequences of her actions, however well-meaning they might have been.

Kara was missing her sister, that was true, but she was also so devastated, so angry and hurt, that she couldn’t bear to deal with Alex. Not until she was calmer. And she had no idea how long that might take.

The months following her injury and almost-death at Lillian Luthor’s hands were crammed with work and Supergirl emergencies and strange aliens. M’gann’s ex-mate came to Earth and tried to abduct her to face ‘justice’ at the hands of the White Martians, but between Kara and J’onn and M’gann herself, they defeated and imprisoned the White, leaving him at the DEO desert facility indefinitely. Kara was wooed by a Fifth Dimensional being called Mr Mxzptylk, who wanted to take her back to the Fifth Dimension as his bride. She had to threaten to destroy the Fortress and kill herself before she could fool him into spelling his name backwards, the only way to get him to return to his home. She did so with a weary sigh, unsure whether she cared if the Atomic Cauldron exploded and took her with it.

Nonetheless, she went back to work in both of her roles, her attitude towards J’onn and Alex softening bit by bit, but not enough to deal with them in anything but a professional capacity. Not yet, at any rate.

Things became complicated by the arrival of the Daxamite flagship which carried the King and Queen who demanded that their son be returned to them. Unfortunately, it turned out that their son was Mon-El, the man who’d claimed to be a palace guard. Kara had to tell them that he had been killed by Cadmus. The deaths that occurred thereafter would stay on Kara’s conscience for the rest of her life, because she hadn’t anticipated that the Daxamites would hunt down and murder every member of Cadmus or any other anti-alien group they found on Earth. The Daxamites remained in Earth orbit after that, not responding to hails or demands for them to face justice, and without more robust weaponry, Earth’s military forces could do nothing. 

Kara had to simply leave them there, hoping that they would eventually get bored and go away. She couldn’t make a Daxamite cruiser disappear, not even with all of her powers.

She hadn’t, therefore, seen Lena Luthor for months, not since that day when Lena had left her room in the DEO’s infirmary. She was thrown into contact with Lena when Snapper assigned her a story on Jack Spheer of Spheerical Industries, who claimed to have perfected nanotechnology that would cure all manner of injuries and illnesses. She saw Lena from across the room where Jack Spheer was making his presentation, and Lena gave her a sad smile. Kara looked away.

She had a hunch that something wasn’t right about the product that Spheer was selling, and she grilled him on clinical trials and FDA approvals, but he appeared to come up clean. She was digging deeper, finding that Lena and Jack Spheer had worked together on the product before Lena took over LuthorCorp, and that they had once been an item. She felt sick to her stomach at that discovery.

She was contacted by a former Spheerical Industries employee, who she met in a parking lot in the middle of the warehouse district. He was giving her information about how the clinical trial information had been faked, when suddenly a swarm of what Kara recognised as the nanobots from Jack’s product poured into the car, killing her informant and blowing up the car. She stepped outside, her clothes smoking, the ‘S’ on her chest clearly visible, and stared around her in shock. She gained her senses, however, when she heard voices and sirens approaching, and took off, heading back to her apartment to soak in the bath and have some Thanagarian frost-wine to help her sleep and chase the sight of her informant being eaten alive by nanobots from her mind.

***

Seeing Kara again was a shock. Lena was aware, of course, that Kara was a journalist, but since she’d walked out of the infirmary at the DEO, Kara had done a great job of avoiding her. Any time she’d caught sight of red and blue in the sky, Supergirl disappeared somehow as if she could sense Lena’s eyes on her. It was all Lena’s fault, she knew that. She had screwed up so badly that she wouldn’t be surprised if Kara never wanted to see her again.

When she saw Kara from across the room she was startled, but tried a quick smile. Kara’s jaw tightened and she turned away. It felt like a kick in the chest, and Lena gasped a little. Kara found a seat somewhere where Lena couldn’t see her, and Lena took the hint. She turned back towards the stage just in time to see the stage go dark, followed by a dramatic light and sound show. Jack appeared from a cloud of dry ice, and Lena chuckled despite the pain in her chest. Always the showman; always the comedian. She’d never fallen for him the way he fell for her, but she had always loved him.

He caught her eye and winked at her as he showed the world the next medical miracle, and she beamed at him as she saw the amazing way that Biomax closed the wound on his hand. She was full of questions, namely how he had managed to get the nanobots to work in concert, and how he’d patched the security issue where a subject could be controlled via the nanobots. She winked at him when he tapped his watch and raised an eyebrow at her, and raised her thumb in assent.

She listened to the Q&A, and was unsurprised when Kara stood and asked multiple questions about clinical trials and FDA approvals. Jack answered them all with his usual good humour, but even without seeing Kara’s face, Lena could tell that she was suspicious, since that tone had been directed at her more than once. She grimaced. The hall began to empty and she went to the small reception outside. Kara was nowhere to be seen, of course. Jack came over and hugged her, and his familiar scent calmed her down and made her feel less alone.

“I’ve missed you so much, sweetcheeks,” he said, grinning at her.

“You promised you’d stop calling me that, you eejit,” she said, reverting to the Irish slang of her youth.

“You know, I’ve never understood why idiot sounds so nice in Irish vernacular than it does in English,” he said amiably. “When my mum calls me an idiot it stings. When you say eejit it just makes me laugh.”

They chatted away like the old friends they were, and Jack asked Lena to dinner. He had… intention, in his eyes, and while she did want to meet him for dinner, she was worried that she might be leading him on by doing so. She bit her lip.

“What is it?” he asked quietly.

“I have a soulmate,” she said. “It’s complicated, but I can’t – you and I, we can’t do anything. So it would just be as friends.”

He smiled a little sadly.

“Understood, m’lady Luthor.”

He did a silly little salute and she chuckled.

Just at that moment, a dark-haired woman appeared behind Jack and whispered in his ear.

“Lena Luthor, Beth Breen, my CFO,” Jack said, with his customary courtesy.

Lena and Beth exchanged handshakes, but Beth kept her hand on Jack’s arm possessively. Lena smirked, shaking her head, and then Jack took his leave to deal with some Biomax business. Lena made her rounds quickly, smiling automatically and leaving as soon as possible.

***

She arrived at dinner on time, finding Jack already there and the appetisers already being delivered to the table.

“You ordered for me?” she asked, as he stood and helped to take off her jacket and pulled out her chair for her to sit down. She rolled her eyes at the chivalry, and he chuckled.

“You know I know what you like, darling,” he said, waggling his eyebrows seductively.

She laughed loudly at that.

“You are such a flirt, Jack,” she said, raising an eyebrow as she put some hot sauce on her oyster and swallowed it. He watched her avidly and she blushed. He had always been sexy; that had never been their problem. He blushed when he saw her smirking at him.

“Sorry. It’s just terribly sexy when you do that,” he said.

“Would you stop, you incorrigible flirt,” she said. “I have a soulmate.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked, immediately sobering. “I can see how much you’re hurting.”

Lena took a deep breath.

“Honestly, I wish I could talk to you about it. You’d understand; I know you would. But it’s complicated. She… I hurt her. So badly. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never forgives me. I deserve it, and she deserves better,” she said quietly.

“I don’t believe that for a moment,” he said, eyes on hers. “You are a great person, Lee-Lee.”

“You’re determined to break out all the stupid names today, aren’t you?” she said, rolling her eyes at him, trying to deflect his attention.

“You are a great person,” he repeated sincerely. “I know how hurtful you can be. You’re good at it when you want to be. And that cold Luthor stare?” He mock-shivered. “My balls shrivelled and went all the way back up into my body every _time_ that was directed at me. But underneath it all, you cared about me and you made my life immeasurably better. You might have hurt her badly, darling, but she’ll come round, because nobody can resist you for long.”

She smiled at him, chin trembling and tears in her eyes.

He reached over and took her hand.

“I’m just speaking the truth. I have always wished you were my soulmate. Fingers crossed that she will be anywhere near as wonderful as you are.”

She wiped away tears.

“God, Jack. You always know what to say.”

“So, tell me love. Who is she?”

Lena told him about Kara while they ate the incredible food, and he smiled at her with love and fondness in his eyes. She blushed when she realised how much she’d been going on about Kara, but he just chuckled.

“I’m always astonished by how the universe chooses soulmates. It’s just proved to me, over and over again, when I see the joy in people’s eyes after they have met theirs. And this Kara – if she’s anything as awesome as she is terrifying, then you two are a perfect match.”

She laughed, feeling lighter than she had in months.

“To Karlena, the hottest new soulmates in town.”

She raised her glass and laughed and laughed.

When it was time to leave, they stopped off at Lena’s office so they could talk about the nanites and how he had solved the problems with the initial design. They talked for hours, sipping Lena’s best scotch, until Jack suddenly stood and walked out of the office without looking back or saying a word. Lena stood there in shock and confusion for several minutes before trying to call him, but his phone went to voicemail over and over again. She called his hotel and they said he wasn’t answering the phone in his room. She almost called Alex Danvers to see if she could help, but realised that Jack leaving of his own volition wasn’t really a reason to call in the cavalry, even if the circumstances had been weird.

She went home confused and worried, trying Jack’s cell over and over again until she fell asleep, exhausted.

***

Kara woke the next morning to a call from the DEO, a traffic accident which she quickly cleared. Then she went to Jack Spheer’s office, breaking in with super-speed, and found a drive with a video file on it. A video that showed clearly that Jack hadn’t done any clinical trials, and that he was the only human trial. She watched as he injected the nanites into his arm, and his outline wavered, suddenly becoming the cloud of nanites she had seen in her informant’s car the previous night before returning to his normal form. She sighed before heading back to the DEO to report what was happening. And then, reluctantly, she made her way to Lena’s office as Supergirl.

She landed silently, looking at Lena’s back for a moment, heart thumping, before tapping on the glass. Lena’s head whipped around and she stared at Kara, open-mouthed. Her heartbeat skyrocketed, faster than Kara’s own. Kara bit her lip, but indicated the door with a raised eyebrow.

Lena moved and opened the door quickly, stepping back and crossing her arms defensively, looking at the carpet intently.

“What can I help you with, Supergirl?” she asked.

“I have some bad news,” Kara said, voice impassive. “It’s to do with Jack Spheer.”

Lena looked up, frowning.

“I had dinner with him last night, and we were talking about Biomax when he just… got up and walked out. It was really weird. I called him over and over again and he hasn’t picked up since then. It’s not like him. He is always really well-mannered and sweet. He wouldn’t leave like that.”

“Why didn’t you call the DEO?”

Lena looked at her for a moment, considering.

“I didn’t want to bother them – or you, if it turned out to be nothing. I was thinking about doing it later today if I still hadn’t heard from him. What’s this bad news?” she asked crisply.

Kara pulled a thumb drive from a pocket at the clasp of her cape and crossed to the large screen on the wall of Lena’s office.

Lena watched the video in horror before using the system controls to go through the other files on the drive, finding the clinical trial records absent.

“What on Earth is going on?” she asked, turning to Kara.

Kara sighed.

“Last night I met up with an informant. He used to work for Spheerical Industries and wanted to blow the whistle on the lack of clinical trials. He was telling me the facts and was about to give me the evidence when something filled the car, this cloud, and ate him alive before the car exploded. I wasn’t hurt, but… the informant was killed. And now I know that the cloud was Jack. He killed my informant. First of all, you have to stay away from him and stay safe. Alex has agreed to keep you at the DEO until I can find him. We need a way to make the nanites leave his body, but we will find it and we will help him if he can be helped.”

Lena crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

“And if he can’t be helped?”

Kara looked down.

“Then we do whatever it takes to stop him hurting anyone else,” Kara said.

“I worked on Biomax,” Lena said. “Jack and I developed it together. If anyone can find a way to fix this, it’s me. I won’t hide away while you kill someone I love because of a mistake.”

Kara looked at her impassively.

“Someone you love, huh? Well, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that. You can come to the DEO and work the problem while we try to find him.”

“Fine,” Lena said, heart sinking. “Let’s go.”

Kara stepped back.

“You know the way. Have your driver bring you. I’ll make sure you have access.”

Lena swallowed. She had thought that Kara would take her to the DEO herself, but obviously she was fooling herself. She nodded, turning away, and heard Kara whoosh off into the distance. She wiped away her tears before lifting her chin and calling her driver to take her to the DEO.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara work together (reluctantly on Kara's side) to deal with Jack and Biomax. Kara helps Lena to deal with the aftermath.

* * *

Kara was shaking when she landed at the DEO. She stood on the balcony, looking out at the city as she took deep breaths. Seeing Lena again, talking to her, it was so hard. It hurt to see the woman that the universe had chosen for Kara, the woman who had rejected her and hurt her over and over. Kara knew that she was being harsh, that it was past time to forgive and forget, but she also didn’t want to be hurt again.

She felt a familiar pair of arms hugging her from behind, and a head on her shoulder.

“I know you’re still mad. And I’m so sorry. But… you look like you need someone to talk to.”

Kara swallowed.

“She’s coming here, to the DEO. She worked on the Biomax tech with Jack. She thinks she might be able to reprogram the nanites to get them to leave Jack’s body. Seeing her again, talking to her… it hurts, Alex. And it turns out that she loves Jack Spheer. He’s not her soulmate, but she loves him. And I… I made her call her driver when it would have been quicker and safer to carry her. But if I’d carried her in my arms… I don’t know what I would have done. Probably cried like a baby.”

Alex let go of her and turned her around, and Kara faced her sister with tears dripping down her face.

“Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry. If she doesn’t love you, Kara, she’s crazy. I know that… the things that happened before, they hurt you badly. And I’m sorry for the part I played in that. You might just have to take that step in her direction. She has left you alone like you wanted. If you want to try this, want to meet your soulmate the right way, I’d say the ball’s in your court.”

Kara nodded miserably, and Alex gathered her into a tight, comforting hug.

“I have a feeling everything’s gonna work out, Kara Zor-El. And if anyone tries to come after you two, they’ll have to face the entire DEO first. We’ve got your back.”

Kara cried for a few moments, Alex’s hold tightening on her, her sister kissing the crown of her head and whispering comforting words in her ear. She pulled herself together after that, however, putting on her Supergirl face and taking a long, deep breath.

“Come on,” she said, as Alex wiped tears from her own eyes. “I can hear her. She’s here.”

“Let’s go, Supergirl.”

Kara greeted Lena quietly and sent her off to the lab to work with Alex. She then went for a fly-over of the city, trying to find Jack Spheer. She finally located him in the Warehouse district, in an actual warehouse that wasn’t abandoned, for a change. When she scanned him with x-ray vision, she could see how his entire body was made up of a cloud of nanobots. She wondered if there was any way of removing them from his body without killing him. From what she was seeing, she didn’t think it was likely.

She reported in through her comms, and Agent Vasquez told her that Lena and Alex needed a sample of the nanites in order to see what could be done. She made her way inside the facility quietly, finding a supply of the nanites quickly and shooting back out again with a box full.

A little while later, Lena and Alex had apparently come up with nothing. The nanites seemed to function as a swarm; a murmuration, Lena called it. It was finally decided that they would need to infiltrate the facility to gain access to Spheerical’s mainframe and get into the base programming to try to remove the nanites. A detachment of the DEO guard, along with Lena, made their way to the warehouse by land, while Kara remained in the air as overwatch.

Lena and Alex went in after the detachment of the guard, finding the mainframe quickly and starting to do whatever it was they were doing to try to separate Jack from the nanites, to stop him from being able to hurt anyone else. Kara was still overhead, watching and listening, when Jack came out of an office on the first floor of the building and came down to the main floor of the warehouse, looking at Lena curiously.

“Lena! What brings you here? And why are you in my system? And who’s the slightly scary woman next to you?” he said, sounding puzzled but not upset or threatening in any way.

“Jack,” Lena said, kissing him on the cheek as he reached her and Alex. The DEO guards were in hidden positions, so there was no reason for him to be suspicious. He beamed at her.

“So, to what do I owe the honour of your presence?” he asked.

Lena took a deep breath.

“Are you telling me that you don’t know?” she asked gently.

“I have no idea,” he said. From what Kara could measure from above, he appeared to be telling the truth.

Lena lifted her tablet from the table holding the central computer. She started the video and turned the screen to where Jack could see it. He stared at it, aghast.

“I don’t… I don’t remember this,” he said, distressed. “I… the clinical trials went well! The vulnerability was fixed! The FDA approved the treatment!”

Lena took his hand.

“Darling, I don’t know what’s happening here, but we’ve checked your records. There are no records of any clinical trials. Just this video. How is it that you can’t remember?”

He ran his hand through his hair, clearly worried.

“I don’t know, Lee. I don’t know!”

She hugged him and he hugged her back for a moment. Then he pushed her away roughly, his face going blank.

“He doesn’t know anything, Miss Luthor. You see, he never did manage to fix that vulnerability, despite his brilliance in coming up with the murmuration idea. He didn’t realise that the nanites had taken over his entire body, that he was being controlled.”

Lena looked past Jack to see Beth Breen, the CFO of Spheerical Industries, standing there with a smug look on her face. Alex had pulled out her sidearm and was pointing it between Jack and Beth.

Beth was wearing a headset that flashed blue.

“Jack, disarm the woman next to Miss Luthor.”

Jack moved at lightning speed and pulled the gun from Alex’s hand before she could move at all. Then he hit her and she flew across the room until she hit a stack of boxes. Kara could tell that she was unconscious, but in no danger. She swore and flew into the warehouse at super-speed.

“Hello, Supergirl! Welcome to our little gathering. Jack, deal with her.”

Kara was caught by surprise when Jack sent out a cloud of nanobots which pinned her up against a pillar, climbing up her body to wrap around her neck and slowly move upwards in an attempt to smother her. She couldn’t be smothered – she didn’t actually need oxygen – but she also couldn’t get out of the grip of the nanobots.

The DEO team chose that moment to attack, but were quickly disarmed and confined in bands of nanites that shot from Jack’s hands. Then, it was just Lena. Lena, standing there bravely with her chin up as Beth Breen approached her, smirking.

“You know, while it’s been fun having one CEO under my control, I think it would be more fun to have two. Especially with L-Corp’s influence and wealth. You’ll be announcing a partnership with Spheerical Industries tomorrow, so that Biomax can be more widely distributed. Just imagine what I can do with all of those minds, all those people at my command.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” Lena asked. She whirled and elbowed Beth in the face before kicking her in the back of her knee. Beth managed to roll away and stood up.

“Did I ever tell you that I’m trained in several martial arts?” Beth asked, a smug look on her face.

Lena circled her.

“Did I ever tell you that I’m a Luthor?” Lena asked, punching the woman full in the face twice in quick succession, causing her to fall to her knees. She pulled the earpiece off the woman before moving to Alex’s side to check on her, lifting her firearm and pointing it at a woozy Beth. She looked across at Kara, who was still confined by the nanite swarm.

“Are you okay?” Lena asked.

“Fine,” Kara said. “Deal with her first.”

Lena nodded and moved closer to Beth, pointing the gun right at her head without wavering.

“How do we reverse the process? How do I separate him from the nanites?” she demanded.

Beth laughed.

“There is no way. He’s integrated with them now. If you take them away, he’ll die.”

“You’re lying,” Lena said, voice trembling.

“I’m not. Look at the data. You’ll see.”

Lena glared at her before moving back to the computer console. She clicked on a few files before finding some research that was hidden away in an innocuous file. She heard Beth shifting in what she probably thought was a stealthy way, and turned quickly to hit her on the side of the face with the gun, making sure to pull the blow enough that she didn’t kill the woman. Beth fell to the floor, finally knocked out.

“Is it true?” Kara called out.

Lena’s stifled sob confirmed it.

“Oh, Rao. I’m so sorry.”

Lena didn’t respond. She put her head in her hands before crushing the earpiece under her boot. The nanites holding all of the agents and Kara disappeared.

“Hold your fire!” Lena called out. “It wasn’t him. He’s not to blame.”

Jack shook his head as nanites from all around the area returned to his body.

“Lena? What happened?”

She looked at him, horror-stricken, tears running down her face. Kara looked at her helplessly. After how she’d avoided Lena recently, she didn’t think her attempts at comforting her soulmate would be welcome.

“Jacky. I’m so sorry. Beth – she used the vulnerability in the code. Took control of you. She made you kill one of Kara’s informants. She made you attack Alex and Supergirl and the agents around us. She… she used the vulnerability. And… she did some research, once she had control of you. You can’t be separated from the nanites. If you are, then you’ll die. But if they stay, you’ll always be vulnerable to anyone who finds out about this.”

Jack looked at her, stricken.

“I was so stupid, Lena. I couldn’t… the tests weren’t going well. All the tests of Biomax showed the vulnerability. In simulations they would walk straight into fire and killed each other if we put in the commands using the interface. I thought I’d fixed it and tested it on myself. I had no idea what she was doing. I’m so sorry. I… I killed someone! God. I killed someone…”

He put his hands over his face.

“You have to take them out. Even if they kill me. If anyone found out how to control me again, I could kill anyone. Do anything, and I wouldn’t even know it. I might have killed you, Lena. I can’t live with that. Please, love. Get them out of me.”

Lena’s eyes were streaming, and she shook her head violently, not looking at Jack.

“No. I can’t. We’ll find a way, Jack. We will find a way and you’ll be okay and I’ll help you to fix the code. Together.”

He took her hands in his.

“I love you, Lena Luthor. Always have, and always will. But if you don’t do this, darling, I will.”

His eyes sparkled with love as he looked down at Lena, and Kara felt her heart constrict at the sight.

“I can’t,” Lena sobbed. “I can’t. You have to let us try.”

“You’ve seen the data. You tell me. Is there another way?” he asked her gently.

She looked up at him, stricken. Then she shook her head.

“Then you know what has to be done. You can go, if you want. Supergirl will watch over me as I do this. You don’t need to see it, sweetheart.”

Lena lifted her chin.

“No. I’ll do it. I can’t let you do this alone.”

He nodded solemnly and gathered her into his arms.

“Fix things with your soulmate, sweetheart. Life’s too short,” he said, smiling at her gently. “Now. Let’s get this over with, shall we? Make sure you tell my Mum and Dad how brave I was.”

Lena choked on a sob and Kara moved to her side.

“I can do it. If you want me to,” she said quietly.

Lena shook her head.

“No. He’s my friend. I owe him this.”

Kara touched her shoulder gently, and Lena turned back to the computer console and pressed a few keys. She turned back to look at Jack, who smiled at her before gasping, falling onto his knees and then onto the floor. The nanites left his body and dispersed into nothing. He started to choke, gasping for breath, and Lena kneeled beside him, pulling his head into her lap.

“I’m so sorry Jacky. I love you so much.”

He smiled at her before his face went slack, his heartbeat slowing and then stopping. Lena let out a cry of despair and Kara couldn’t help it. She wrapped herself around her soulmate and held her as she cried out for the loss of a man she loved deeply. Lena clung to her and Kara’s heart broke for what her soulmate had had to do. She murmured nonsense words as she kissed the crown of Lena’s head and enveloped her in her arms. The DEO agents quietly took Jack’s body from where it lay, and Kara and Lena remained on the floor until Lena finally stopped sobbing.

“He’s gone,” she said, tears choking her. “He’s gone.”

“I know,” Kara said. “I know.”

She had no words of comfort to give; only her presence. She prayed to Rao that it would be enough.

***

After Lena’s sobs abated, Kara asked her quietly if she wanted to go to the DEO infirmary and be sedated. She shook her head and Kara asked her what she wanted.

“Just… take me home? And Kara… would you stay with me?”

Kara sighed internally. She didn’t want to be here, but at the same time, she never wanted to let Lena go. She knew that if she didn’t stay with Lena, she would ruin any chance of them ever exploring a relationship. And according to Maggie, that would ruin both of them.

Kara asked if she and Lena could give their statements in a few days, and the NCPD agreed since they were going to have several eye-witness statements from the DEO agents who were present. Then she lifted Lena in her arms and flew them away gently, following Lena’s almost-silent directions to land on the balcony of the penthouse of a huge building owned by L-Corp. She broke the lock and stepped inside, crudely locking it by the simple expedient of her heat vision.

She set Lena down on her couch, where Lena sat still, staring into the distance. Kara went to the kitchen and after a bit of fumbling around before remembering that she had x-ray vision, she found some chamomile tea and honey. She made two cups of the tea and added cinnamon whiskey to Lena’s. Alex said it helped when someone had been crying a lot. Helped to melt away the lump in their throats.

She put the cup carefully in Lena’s hand, making sure it wasn’t hot enough to burn. Lena stared into the distance. Kara looked around, finding a guest room with some spare pyjamas in a chest. She shot in and out of the room at super-speed and changed herself into the PJs, bringing the other pair to Lena.

“You want to get changed, Lena?” she asked, voice soft. “You’ll be more comfortable.”

Lena just stared, so Kara carefully stood her up, taking the tea from her, and helped her to change into the comfortable pyjamas. She took off Lena’s socks, too, and held her feet in her hands to warm them. After that Lena started to shiver, so Kara took her into her arms and held her closely until her shivers died down into nothing. She heated the tea again with her heat vision and put it into Lena’s hand. This time she was more responsive, and used the cup to warm her hands. She took occasional sips, and leaned back against Kara, her body relaxing.

“He died in my arms. I loved him, and I had to kill him because he was a walking time bomb. I loved him, and I killed him.”

Kara shook her head.

“I didn’t know him, Lena. From his actions today, he was clearly a noble, loving man who gave his life to fix his own mistake, and to keep you safe. He loved you very much and he did what had to be done to keep you and everyone else safe.”

Lena wiped away another tear.

“He was amazing. Such a joker. He always made me laugh, so much. Back then I was sure I would never have a soulmate, and he was of the opinion that we made our own destinies, our own decisions. We loved each other. He saved me, after Lex did what he did. He was my rock, and back then he was the love of my life. I thought. But when it became clear that I had to take over LuthorCorp, I left him behind. Told him that the company was more important. And the sad thing is, it _was_ more important to me. I wanted to make my family name stand for something other than Lex and his madness. And now Lillian and her madness.”

Kara winced at that. She hadn’t liked Mon-El much, but she had made friends with a lot of the regulars at the bar and thinking about them, seeing their blank faces after Cadmus killed them with a Kryptonian virus, was like a punch in the gut.

“Jack was always so kind. I should never have left him, and then I never would have been here. Lex wouldn’t have attacked me and then tried to kill you and Superman.”

“Shh,” Kara said. “If you hadn’t come here, we would never have met. And even though things haven’t been easy, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“You don’t mean that,” Lena said, chuckling bitterly. “You don’t have to pretend.”

“I’m not pretending. I mean it. Things aren’t exactly easy now, but we’ll get there. One day.”

Lena sniffled, and Kara shot into the kitchen and back, returning with some tissues before Lena’s back could even begin to fall back onto the couch. Lena looked up at her with awe in her eyes.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

“It took me a long time, too,” Kara said, shrugging.

“You didn’t have your powers on Krypton?”

“I didn’t. I flew around a few times in a yellow sun chamber on feast days – all the kids did – but finding that it was harder to keep myself tethered to the ground than it was to fly? That was terrifying. I could suddenly do all these things that no-one else could, and Kal-El didn’t… he left me with the Danvers, to keep me safe, he said. Alex says he’s a selfish dick who doesn’t like looking at me because it reminds him that he’s not really a Kryptonian. He’s a human in Kryptonian skin.”

“I think I would have to agree with Alex there. Superman might be a hero to most people, but leaving you with a human family away from your only relative – that sucks. If I ever meet him, I’m going to kick him in the balls.”

Kara chuckled.

“If you did that, your entire leg would shatter. Not a good idea.”

“Totally worth it,” Lena said. She sounded sleepy.

“You want to lie down for a bit? It’s been a long day.”

“Okay,” Lena said. “You… you can go… I mean, if you want.”

“I said I’d stay with you. I’m here until you send me away.”

Lena looked down at her lap.

“You might be here a long time,” she said softly.

“We’ll see, Lena. For now, let’s get some sleep.”

They made their way down the corridor, and Lena opened the door of her bedroom.

“You can sleep in the guest room, if you want.”

“Is that what you want me to do, Lena?” Kara asked.

“No,” she admitted.

“Then come on, let’s go sleep.”

Lena settled into her arms in the stupidly comfortable bed, and to Kara it felt like a key fitting in a lock. The rightness of it was hard to articulate. It was just all kinds of perfect.

Lena fell asleep almost immediately, and to Kara’s surprise, she followed her soulmate into a deep sleep in seconds. For a change, it was a night without dreams. She only felt content and safe for the first time in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, due to my lack of writing mojo and creativity and general ability to write being sucky, this is going to be the last chapter for a while. I don't want to make false promises so I won't give you a timescale. I will promise that I'll write as quickly as I can. I love this AU and can't wait to finish it. I hope you'll all be patient with me. 
> 
> (If there are people out there who fancy not being patient, and feel like making nasty comments about that, just bear in mind that you'll get chapters in far less time if you don't decide to chip away at my confidence. Thanks.)


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Jack's death. SuperCorp go on a date.

* * *

It was daylight when they woke. Lena was clinging to her, and Kara had to manoeuvre carefully to find her cellphone and check the time.

It was 12.26pm. They had slept through the night together, and Kara felt happier and more relaxed than she been for years. If she had any doubts about the soulmate bond since she’d met Lena and everything had gone so wrong between them, she didn’t anymore. It was like waking up to find herself in her bedroom in Argo City, before Krypton’s death, when her life was simple and filled with love.

She looked at Lena and felt a stillness somewhere deep inside her. She needed Lena, but she still couldn’t trust her. The fact that Lena had trusted her enough to be vulnerable with her after Jack had died made her think that perhaps there was hope. If Lena could be vulnerable, then so could she. Soon, she hoped.

Lena began to stir then, and Kara closed her eyes. It was easier to think about all this when Lena was asleep and calm. Now that she was awake, Kara felt the stab of the betrayal she’d suffered much more keenly.

“Good morning,” Lena said quietly. “You didn’t have to…”

“I wanted to. You asked me to stay with you and so I did. You’re my soulmate, Lena, even if I am still working through what’s happened between us. I am here for you if you need it. You can call me if you do. Need me, that is.”

Lena closed her eyes and let out a small sigh.

“I thought… I thought maybe you were never going to want to see me,” she said, voice shaking.

“I won’t say I’m delighted about how things have turned out, Lena. But I… when we were together, when you were in my arms, I felt peace. I don’t get to feel that very often. And I would be a fool to ignore what the universe says. You’re the person for me, and I’m the person for you. You’ll just need to give me a little bit more time and space so that I can work through all of it.”

Lena nodded, eyes downcast.

“I… I can only tell you again how sorry I am. You didn’t deserve any of what I did to you. I was an idiot to think I could keep my mother and Lex at bay by myself.”

Kara nodded.

“I wouldn’t say you’re an idiot. But you take responsibility for things that aren’t your fault. Things that you don’t have to fix. I hope that, in future, you’ll ask for help instead of pushing me away. I… I don’t think I could cope with that happening again.”

Lena nodded.

“So, what now?” she asked quietly. She had withdrawn into herself again, and part of Kara felt guilty to be the cause, like she was bullying Lena rather than trying to keep her own heart safe.

“I don’t know,” Kara admitted. “Do you have any suggestions?”

Lena looked up at her, surprised.

“You… you want my input? Really?”

Kara looked at her mildly.

“Look, I know things didn’t start well between us. But if we’re going to make this – us – a relationship, we have to work together on things. So if you have any ideas about first steps for us to take, I’d love to hear them.”

Lena looked at her, wide-eyed.

“Are you really sure? I mean, I hurt you so much. You shouldn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Maybe,” Kara said, shrugging. “But I get to decide whether I want to try this or not, and vice versa. If you don’t want to try, then our story is finished. But if you do want to try, then I get to decide if it’s what I want. Does that sound fair to you?”

Lena nodded dumbly.

“Good,” Kara said. “So, suggestions?”

“I… maybe, we should start again?”

Kara smiled.

“I think I’d like that.”

“Okay,” Lena said, breathing a small sigh of relief. “So, do you want to start?”

This time, Kara grinned.

***

When Kara left, sweeping out through the balcony door silently, Lena stared after her for several minutes, feeling a mixture of awe, relief, and something else she couldn’t quite name. Hope, maybe? And thinking about Supergirl, thinking about Kara – it made her feel warm and safe and peaceful. She wasn’t sure how to deal with that feeling. She hadn’t felt safe since before her mother died.

“It’ll come to you in time, Lena,” M’gann said, slipping into the room silently and scaring the bejesus out of her.

“Thanks,” she said, nodding to M’gann, who just grinned.

  
“What are friends for, Luthor?” she said, fondly.

“You know, I do wonder how I would have survived if you weren’t here this whole time. And… I don’t mean physically,” Lena said hesitantly.

M’gann moved to her side and hugged her.

Surprising herself, Lena burst into tears. Tears of relief. Tears that were like a dam breaking, letting out all of the fear and anxiety and guilt she’d been feeling since this whole thing had started. M’gann wrapped her arms tighter around Lena, and Lena fell into her. Starved for affection, she hugged back fiercely.

After she had cried herself out, she stepped back and away from M’gann.

“Thank you,” she said, wiping away her tears and sniffing.

“Anytime, Luthor.”

Lena smiled.

The next day, she returned to her office, more than ready to get back to work.

“Miss Luthor. Are you okay?” Jess asked, as she put a cup of steaming hot coffee on Lena’s desk next to some fruit and pastries, ready as always to look after Lena with her usual mix of focus and care.

“I’m fine, Jess,” Lena reassured her. “Just my mother, up to her old tricks. Trying to murder people. You know, a day in the life of a Luthor.”

She attempted a wry smile, but it looked much more like a grimace.

“Miss Luthor, I don’t want to pry. But you haven’t seemed yourself since we got to National City. Is there something else going on? Something to do with Supergirl?”

Jess was clearly concerned, and while Lena wasn’t entirely sure, it was likely that Lillian, at least, knew that Supergirl was Lena’s soulmate. So in the unlikely event that Jess was a spy for the more nefarious Luthors, it wouldn’t hurt to tell her.

“This stays between us?” she asked, eyeing Jess carefully.

“Of course,” Jess said, looking offended that she needed to ask.

“Supergirl… she’s my soulmate.”

Jess gasped.

“I… I thought that might have been it, but then I thought, what kind of screwed up system would put you two together? I mean, it’s got a lot of the ‘star-crossed lovers’ thing going for it, but if your mother found out? Or Lex?” Jess had a hand over her mouth.

“So you see my predicament,” Lena said dryly. “I reacted badly, and told Supergirl I wanted to be left alone. Since then things with my mother have gone from bad to worse and I… I took out a restraining order against Supergirl.”

“Oh my,” Jess said, eyes wide. “I take it that didn’t go down well?”

“Not so much. And rightly so. I shouldn’t have… I just wanted her to be as safe as possible. I didn’t want to be the reason she was hurt. My family are just… relentless, you know?”

“Oh, I understand, Miss Luthor,” Jess said. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through.”

“Well, whatever I’ve been going through, I think I’ve put Supergirl through worse,” Lena said. “She’s been so hurt by my actions when all I wanted to do was prevent that very thing.”

“You were trying to protect her from your family, Miss Luthor, and I think you’ll probably find it hurt you just as much as it hurt her. Unless you have some sort of problem with the soulmate thing, because some people do?” Jess asked, eyebrows up.

“I don’t. I want a soulmate. I dreamed of it as a child, a person who would take me away from the Luthors, to somewhere where people cared about me,” Lena said, sighing. “Sorry, Jess. This is too personal, I know. It’s just… it’s been a long week.”

“Miss Luthor, I know I’m just your employee, but I moved across a continent to work with you. I admire you tremendously, not only on a professional level but personally, too. Do you know how many people would have been selfless enough to turn down a soulbond in order to protect their soulmate, a person they didn’t even know yet? That’s… I’m amazed. I couldn’t have done it. My soulmate, whenever they come along – I’m not going to let them go. I’m going to be the clingiest soulmate in history, and I don’t give a damn. But you were prepared to live alone, or without a guarantee of happiness at least, for the sake of Supergirl’s safety. I know it probably hurt her, but I’m also sure that, if she’s as caring and sweet as she seems, she’ll understand.”

“Thank you, Jess,” Lena said, reaching out and squeezing her assistant’s hand. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

Lena made a mental note right then to invite Jess to any appropriate social occasions she was invited to in future. The girl probably needed friends as much as she did.

She chatted with Jess for a little longer, telling her a little more about what had happened over the previous few days – Lillian attempting to exile as many aliens as she could find and abduct, followed by her last-ditch attempt to get rid of Supergirl. She also told her assistant that she was meeting Supergirl that night. Jess’ expression grew determined at that.

“You’re going to be out of here no later than 5, Miss Luthor. I don’t know if Supergirl has a day job but you need to be well-rested and ready to talk things through with her. So if you haven’t left by 5pm…” she trailed off, giving Lena her fiercest glare, and Lena couldn’t help but smile in return.

“I will leave on time, or maybe even before. I have had my fill of adventure this week, and I don’t intend to come in this weekend, either. I need to recuperate. And I need to accept my soulmate, because I haven’t even let myself think about it, so far.”

“Well, there’s not many people on this planet who can say they managed to pick up a Super as their soulmate. Not too shabby,” Jess said, grinning.

“I guess you’re right, there. I mean, she’s got the muscles, and the otherworldly thing, and she can fly. I mean… I always thought she was sexy, from afar? But when I met her face to face, it was like… wow, you know? Even while I was freaking out over what my mom might do. She’s amazing, just so strong and caring and forgiving.”

“That’s amazing, Miss Luthor. I’m glad the universe chose the right person for you.”

“Thank you,” Lena said, throat tightening.

The day flew by. There were a series of telephone calls and emails and even a few video conferences to assure shareholders and investors that she was alive and well and that Lillian Luthor was incarcerated, and that it was business as usual at LuthorCorp. She was exhausted by the time she told Jess to forward the phones at 4:47pm, and she left the building at 4:48pm, much to Jess’s glee.

“I really hope things go well tonight, Miss Luthor. I’m sure things will be amazing now you can just let things be.”

Lena nodded, a dreamy half-smile on her face, and she ignored Jess’s snickers.

“I’ll see you Monday, Jess,” she said, before turning. “Thank you for your support.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Luthor,” Jess said, smiling.

It was a nicer way to end the work week than she had anticipated.

***

Kara was tired. It had been a long week, with the dying and the kidnapping and getting shot out into the universe to save her unwilling soulmate. Her sister night with Alex had been amazing, because the elephant in the room was gone and that meant they could speak freely and talk about everything. It was a relief. She had missed her sister so badly… that had been one of the worst parts of this whole thing with Lena.

They had eaten way too much pizza, played ice cream switch, and watched a truly awful romcom just so they could poke fun at it. It was just like normal, and a part of Kara had sighed and relaxed, anxiety abated.

Tonight, though, was going to be the trick. No matter what she had done, how much she had hurt Kara, Lena was her soulmate, the one chosen by the universe for Kara Zor-El. Perhaps tonight they could get things back on track.

Kara dressed carefully, choosing a loose, flowing top and tight jeans with knee-length brown leather boots, letting her hair down. She kept her glasses on, of course, not wanting to expose her identity to the world. She was glad that she didn’t have to pretend for Lena’s benefit, though.

They met at Noonan’s, a conveniently central location for both. Lena smiled when she looked up and saw Kara walking in. She was luminous, uplit by candlelight, her hair loose and her makeup understated. Her lipstick wasn’t the usual crimson; it was a paler colour - close to the shade of her own lips.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” she admitted, when Kara sat down opposite her.

“I never gave you any indication that I wouldn’t show up for you, did I?” Kara asked, with a level look.

Lena winced a little.

“No, you haven’t. I have been meaning to thank you for everything you did. You could have been lost out there in the universe forever, and you went without even flinching,” Lena said, fidgeting with a napkin.

“I will always be there for you,” Kara said, leaving Lena wide-eyed and speechless. The waitress came by a moment later, and they ordered some drinks. Kara picked out a few appetisers – well, more than a few, but she was nervous. They fell silent for a few moments until their food and drink was delivered, and then Lena cleared her throat.

“Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive me?”

Kara smiled faintly.

“I already have. I understand why you did what you did.”

“But you don’t trust me,” Lena said, looking at Kara carefully. She took a sip from her glass of red wine. She was stunning.

“I… I wouldn’t say it like that. I don’t… I don’t feel secure. It seems to me that you might wake up tomorrow and decide that this isn’t a good idea, again.”

Lena reached out, touching her hand hesitantly.

“You are perfectly within your rights to feel that way, Kara. But I can assure you, if we had met under different circumstances? I would have been the clingiest soulmate in all of history.” Lena smiled, for some reason, as if that phrase made her thing of something funny. “I’ve always thought I was destined to be alone, because growing up, the only people who spent time with me were people who wanted something from me, or people who wanted to get close so they could hurt me. To know that someone was irrevocably linked to me by some sort of cosmic force – it was the kind of security in a relationship that I could never have dreamed of. I know that when I met you, I freaked out. But surely you can understand why? After all those years of trying to seem non-threatening, trying to stay out of the whole thing between the Luthors and the Supers, and the next minute I find that you’re the soulmate I’ve been waiting for. Just imagine, for one second, that it gets out. The public would crucify me, and my family would have us both murdered as brutally as possible. I freaked, and I overreacted, and I know that I probably messed all of this up, but I really want this.”

Lena looked up then, and her eyes were brimming with tears. Kara gasped. Her eyes looked like the jewel gardens on… what was the name of the planet? (She remembered then that it was a planet with a language she had never understood, and was unable to speak. She didn’t have the eight tongues and 12 sets of vocal cords necessary. She was very thankful that her Aunt Astra had taken an extra translator unit for her on that trip.)

“In that case, I think we have a lot to talk about, Miss Luthor,” Kara said, staring unabashedly. Lena blushed.

They talked in Noonan’s for a little longer, and then Kara suggested they take a walk in National City Park.

“It’s pretty at night, but people don’t go there because they’re frightened of being mugged or hurt.”

“At least I know I don’t have to worry,” Lena said, smiling at her shyly.

“I’ll toss out a few of Cat Grant’s favourite insults and they’ll go running,” Kara joked. She held out her arm, and Lena took it.

The park was particularly beautiful that night. The moon was almost full and it lit up the black water of the lake. They sat on a bench watching as ducks and geese snuffled around, preening and getting ready to sleep. It was oddly calming.

“I always thought you were beautiful, you know,” Lena said. “Supergirl, I mean.”

“Oh, really,” Kara teased, bumping Lena with her arm gently. “Do tell.”

“Well, there’s the suit, which by the way hugs your figure beautifully. And then there’s that sunny demeanour of yours. Your cousin has always been a little… tightly wound? He gives that grin every now and then to kids and whatever, but mostly he’s all about duty and the American way,” Lena said, doing a passable imitation of Kal-El. Kara couldn’t help but laugh.

“That’s where he and I differ. I don’t think the American way is anything to aspire to, given that it’s a country based on displacing or murdering millions of indigenous people. I agree with the truth and justice part, though.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Lena said, raising an imaginary glass. Kara zipped off, returning a second later with two bottles of Snapple from a nearby bodega.

“Cheers,” she said, smiling at Lena’s amazement.

“Sláinte,” Lena said, clinking the glass bottles together.

“Gaelic, huh?” Kara said, smiling. “I thought I heard a hint of that in your accent.”

“It’s a little more than a hint,” Lena said, smiling. “I was born there, and as soon as they could, the Luthors sent me back there to boarding school.”

“It’s a beautiful country,” Kara said.

“You’ve been there?” Lena asked curiously.

“I’ve been everywhere,” Kara said, wryly.

“Of course,” Lena said, looking a little sheepish. “I forget you can fly, when you’re not in the suit.”

“So do I, sometimes,” Kara said. She laughed. “I wasn’t allowed to use my powers for a long time. I almost forgot how.”

“You weren’t allowed? Your cousin, or? Who could stop you?” Lena asked, incredulous.

“I was a kid once, Lena. My adoptive parents told me what to do and I did it. They told me to hide my powers, and the one time I didn’t, Cadmus took Jeremiah, Alex’s dad, away.”

“I didn’t know that,” Lena said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Lena. You really shouldn’t apologise for things you didn’t do,” Kara chided gently.

“Well, it was my family who did this to yours, so I think feeling a little guilty is to be expected.

“Of course, but… Lena, my biological parents – they did a lot of questionable things. I didn’t know about them when I was a kid, but – that virus? Medusa? It was my father’s design, to kill aliens if our planet was invaded. And my mother made a decision to hide what was going on with the planet, which meant that it exploded and all of its people - except me, Kal-El and a few others – they all died. So if you want to keep the deaths your brother or mother caused on your conscience, I guess I should be holding myself responsible for a genocide. Billions of deaths. Two planets destroyed. That’s fair, right?”

Lena looked appalled.

“Okay, you’ve made your point. Will you tell me more about your world?” Lena asked.

“One day,” Kara said, her eyes far away. “Not right now.”

“Okay,” Lena said, smiling.

“Would you like to fly with me?” Kara asked suddenly.

“I’d love to,” Lena said, breathlessly.

Kara grinned.

“Come on,” she said, walking off towards a small wooded area. Lena followed her, running a little to catch up, and she grabbed Kara’s arm.

“Don’t run off and leave your soulmate in the scary dark park, if you don’t mind!”

“Sorry, Lena,” Kara said. “I forget that you have to be careful about things like that.”

Lena rolled her eyes fondly.

Kara stood back and spun into her super-suit, holding out a hand to Lena. Lena took it, and Kara directed her to stand on her boots. Lena removed her shoes and slung them over a finger, then stepped onto Kara’s boots. Kara slid her hands around Lena’s waist, grinning as she shivered, and she took off slowly, gathering speed once they’d passed the treetops. Lena clutched at her neck convulsively once she realised that they were no longer on the ground, but then she was smiling and Kara grinned in response. She knew she’d read Lena right.

“You’re a thrill seeker, aren’t you?” she asked.

“How do you figure that?” Lena asked, her arms relaxing around Kara’s neck. The feel of her, the way she melted against Kara, it was… just right. It felt like someone had designed them together, a key in a lock. It was such a profound feeling that she wanted to weep.

“I can hear your heart,” Kara murmured, letting her lips almost touch Lena’s ear. She felt Lena shudder against her, and she smiled a little. This was how it should have been when they met. The spark of attraction, the certainty of love. It was what Kara had wanted since landing on Earth, and she unconsciously pulled Lena a little closer. Lena rested her head on Kara’s shoulder, then, and her breath against Kara’s neck made her shiver pleasantly.

They were over the river, now, and Kara could see the bridge through which she had steered a 737 because Alex was on it and it was crashing. She pointed it out to Lena, turning them carefully, hovering in the air.

“The first time I saved someone – my sister was on a plane to Geneva and it was sabotaged. I couldn’t let her die, no matter what Eliza and Jeremiah had always taught me, so I ran, and I leapt, and on the second jump I flew. I caught the plane as it was going down, and for the first time since I landed on Earth, I felt strain in my muscles. It was so strange to me, to feel an actual weight. I’d always felt like I could just float away, if I didn’t hold onto Alex or Eliza or my friends tightly enough,” Kara said. Lena let go of her neck with one hand, moving it to stroke Kara’s face gently. “I had to steer it through those steel ropes, and I ended up dragging the wing of the plane along the road on the bridge. I honestly thought I was going to break the bridge in half and kill everyone on there. But I just made it, and then I was able to put it down on the water. Alex was safe, and I’d never been so relieved or so fulfilled before. Alex was furious, of course,” Kara continued, starting to move again. She flew them to the clearing on the hills where she had once met Cat Grant. “I was so hurt. I was heartbroken when she told me off. She honestly would rather I’d let her die than expose myself.”

“Jesus,” Lena breathed. Kara set them down gently on the edge of the clearing, sitting down on a bench to look over the city. “You saved her and she was pissed off?”

“Well, in all fairness, she was working with the DEO even back then. I didn’t know, and I found out because they shot me down out of the sky with Kryptonite darts.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh?” Lena asked, frowning.

“I thought so too, strangely. I woke up and there was this guy telling me he was Hank Henshaw, and then he introduced me to ‘Agent Danvers’. I was so angry. They were treating me like a threat when I’d just saved Alex’s life, hundreds of others on that plane, and Rao knows how many on the ground. If that flight had come down over National City…” Kara shuddered. “Hank told me to stop using my powers, and told me to get lost, basically. Said I was a liability.”

“He doesn’t seem like he’d be that way,” Lena said, still confused.

“That’s because he’s not. He was overcompensating, I think. He was doing the job that the original Hank Henshaw held, and he was trying to keep Earth safe from any alien threats, even though he was an alien himself. When I started working with the DEO he started to soften, and then he told Alex who he really was. The last son of Mars.”

“I can’t really get my head around the Mars thing,” Lena admitted. “That there have been two species on there for all of Earth’s history? That’s just… it’s unfathomable.”

“There aren’t any other inhabited planets in this sector, but you have other neighbours within 10 light years,” Kara said. “They’re pretty shy though, and they only ever got in touch with Krypton because of our scientific advancements.”

“You really have been there,” Lena breathed. “You really came from another planet and you’re a real, bona fide alien. It’s a real mind fuck.”

“Try finding yourself on a new planet, 27 light years from home, and suddenly being able to fly around like a dragon. That? That is a mind fuck,” Kara said.

“I always forget you didn’t have any powers on Krypton.”

“It was a nightmare at first,” Kara said contemplatively. “I would open the door of the refrigerator and to get a glass of milk and I’d pull it right off. That happened about 7 times in the first year. Then there were the walls, the beds, the windows. And the people. I hugged Eliza once and broke four of her ribs. And when I shook Jeremiah’s hand for the first time, I broke two of his fingers.”

“That must have been awful,” Lena said, looking pained.

“It was. I was terrified of hurting people. It was Alex who helped me work it all out. She made it all into a science experiment. And she helped me control the rest of my powers as they came in. Heat vision was…”

Kara trailed off, red-faced.

“What?” Lena asked, stroking her arm a little.

“Let’s just say that heat vision generally comes in around puberty, and it’s a direct response to arousal. _That_, I did not need to find out at 15. One of the girls from my class was just… she was so sweet and nice, and one day she flipped her hair over her shoulder when I was behind her in class. The back of her neck, it was just so… inviting.”

“What happened?”

“I melted the windows. Molten glass, cooling and popping everywhere, and a bunch of hysterical teenagers. It was awful.”

Lena giggled.

“I’m sorry. It must have been terrifying,” she said, still smiling. “But I can imagine Alex got a kick out of that.”

“She laughed for a week. And then when our neighbour Josh cut the grass in the summer and took his shirt off, I set the lawn on fire. He didn’t have to cut it for a while after that. And Alex laughed for another week,” Kara said ruefully.

“So was everyone bisexual on Krypton?”

“No. Not exactly? Love and sex wasn’t really a part of life. I think the libido of our people was dying even as our planet was. There was a computer called Matricomp, and once you came of age it would spit out a match. I wasn’t old enough, but it was accepted that it could have been either a woman or a man or any person in between. We would match on an intellectual level, in values, in what really mattered to us.”

“That sounds logical, but a little sad.”

“I always thought so,” Kara said. “Kal-El’s parents were in love with one another, and they were an oddity. But for me they were a shining beacon, an example of what I wanted to have.”

“And here we are,” Lena said. “It’s almost as if it was meant to be.”

“It seems like that’s the whole point of soulmates,” Kara said, shrugging. “I miss a lot of things about Krypton, but this is the only thing I think Earth does better.”

“And I almost screwed that up,” Lena said, sadly.

“Yeah,” Kara said. “I can’t say I wasn’t angry and hurt,” she continued, “but Alex was trying to protect me from the DEO when she told me I shouldn’t have rescued her plane. And I know that you were just trying to protect me. I can’t really blame you for that.”

“Kara, you can’t really mean it when you say that you forgive me for everything,” Lena stated, frowning.

“I do forgive you,” Kara said. “That doesn’t mean I’m not still hurt by it. But I can hardly blame you for trying to protect me. I can’t say what I would have done in your place. I would like to think that I would have chosen to bond with you and find a way for us to fight your mother as a team, but I don’t think you can ever really know how you’ll react in any given circumstance,” Kara said.

“Kara, I don’t understand you. I know how much I hurt you. I could see it. And still, you chose to go into that ship to keep me safe, and to keep my mother away from me. How do you do that?”

“El Mayarah,” Kara said, simply. “My family motto, I guess you’d call it,” she said, pointing at the crest on her chest. “It means ‘Stronger together’. It stands for hope, to me. That we can do anything together. I think that the soul bond is the ultimate togetherness. I knew that if I saved you, that I would find a way back to you, or you would find your way to me, if you wanted to.”

“I wanted to. I would have found you, Kara.”

“You did find me,” Kara said.

“No, I didn’t…” Lena said, but Kara held a finger up.

“You and Winn both worked together to recall that ship, Lena. You can downplay your part if you like, but I know what you did.”

“I did a tiny thing. I was just a part of it. M’gann got you to the DEO and Alex brought you back from the dead,” Lena protested.

“Stronger together,” Kara said. “You were a part of the effort to get me back home. I can’t thank you enough.”

Lena shifted uncomfortably.

“You’re not comfortable with praise, huh?” Kara said, tilting her head slightly.

“It was always used as a device to manipulate me,” Lena admitted. “I find it easier to shrug it off.”

“You don’t have to do that with me,” Kara said. “I’m never trying to manipulate you. I just want you to know the truth.”

Lena sat very still for a moment.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Kara smiled. Lena shuffled a little across the bench, so that she was pressed up against Kara. Kara lifted her arm in response, wrapping it around Lena’s shoulders and pulling her closer. Lena let her head rest against Kara’s shoulder. It felt perfect, somehow, like it was meant to be this way. Like they were meant to fit together. A sense of rightness filled Kara, and she sighed in satisfaction.

They sat that way for a while, silently watching the city below them, and Kara let her mind concentrate on the woman next to her. The sound of her heart, the smell of her perfume, the soft sighing of her breath. It made Kara feel relaxed in a way that no-one else but Alex ever could, before. She found herself drifting, a little, and Lena pulled away from her, chuckling.

“I think it’s time we went home, darling,” Lena said. “I think you still need more recovery time.”

Kara smiled at her wearily.

“I know this is too soon, Lena but… could you stay with me tonight? I slept so much better when you were at the DEO with me,” Kara said. She felt herself shrinking a little after making the request, because Lena had said so many things about not wanting her, before. She regretted the request instantly. She started to say she didn’t mean it, that it didn’t matter, but Lena was turning Kara’s face to hers, and she pressed a gentle kiss to Kara’s lips.

“I would love nothing more,” she said, eyes bright and calm.

“Oh,” Kara said, dumbly, touching her lips with one finger. “Okay.”

“Your place or mine?” Lena asked, looking at Kara expectantly.

“Oh, well – I mean, I guess that’s up to you – I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. It’s a stupid idea, I’m sorry. I’ll just take you home,” Kara said, stuttering.

“No, Kara. You don’t get to say something like that, to invite me to stay with you and then take it back. I want to sleep by your side, Kara Zor-El, and that means I’m staying at your apartment tonight, okay? That’s what I would have preferred, anyway. Your apartment is a home. Mine is just… it’s like a hotel. There’s nothing personal there.”

“Okay,” Kara said, wide-eyed. She stood, offering a hand to Lena, and she took off, flying them both to her apartment within a few minutes. She stood in the middle of the room, a little lost.

“Kara?” Lena said.

“Sorry,” Kara said, shaking her head. “You need something to sleep in, right? I’ll get you some clothes.”

She shot around the apartment, getting changed into her own comfortable pyjamas and fluffy socks, and found similar clothing for Lena. She stopped in front of her soulmate, handing her the clothes, and Lena stared at her.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be used to seeing you use your powers,” Lena breathed. “It’s amazing.”

“It’s just biology,” Kara said, shrugging. “On Krypton I was just like you. Just like a human, only stronger and smarter.”

“Smarter?” Lena asked, one eyebrow up. “Do tell.”

“I was genetically engineered, Lena. All of my people were, apart from Kal-El. We knew a lot about genetics, and we worked out how to build perfect specimens. I was one of the most intelligent of our people. I was accepted into the Science Guild before I left, the youngest ever in the history of the planet. In earth terms, my IQ would be higher than your tests can measure. Which is lucky, because calculating how to touch someone without breaking them, working out how to fly without destroying the buildings around me, using heat vision without setting the Earth’s atmosphere on fire? That all takes a lot of calculation. Kal never had to get used to his powers in the way that I did. He had them from a very young age, apart from some that developed slowly, later. I had them all thrust upon me at 13 years of age.”

“You’re really incredible,” Lena said, eyes wide. “You and I have to talk more about science on your world. We could do great things together.”

“I think so too,” Kara said, staring at Lena. She really was the most beautiful woman Kara had ever seen. It was hard to look away.

“You’re so beautiful, Kara Zor-El,” Lena breathed. “I don’t know how I ever said no to you. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Kara moved forwards quite involuntarily, in her fluffy duckling pyjamas, and Lena stepped closer, still wearing her jeans, and then they were kissing. It was more desperate than the soft kiss from earlier; they couldn’t get enough of each other, pressing as close as they could, hands in each other’s hair, nails scraping down each other’s sides, tongues playing and teeth nipping. Lena was the one to draw back, half-gasping. Kara tensed immediately, stepping back.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… did I do something you didn’t want?” she asked, trembling.

“No, you idiot,” Lena said fondly. “You did everything right. I’m just trying to resist tearing those ridiculous pyjamas off you and making you scream my name.”

Kara trembled harder, but for a different reason. Lena took pity on her, pulling her down for a softer kiss and stepping back.

“I’m going to go change,” she said, eyes intent on Kara’s. “Then we can go get some sleep, okay?”

Kara nodded dumbly. Lena disappeared into the bathroom, returning a few minutes later with Kara’s second favourite pyjamas on. They were baby blue in colour with puppies on them. Add to that pink fuzzy socks, and the ensemble was complete. Kara smiled at the view.

“I look ridiculous,” Lena said, flatly. “I look like a refugee from a teen Disney movie.”

“You look cute,” Kara insisted, chuckling. “I just want to cuddle you. That’s kind of the idea, right?”

Lena grumbled something under her breath, and Kara held out a hand, drawing Lena along with her. She switched off the lights in the rest of the apartment and directed Lena to the left side of the bed while she took the right. Kara pulled Lena close, running her fingers through her soft, dark hair. It smelled amazing.

“You’re so soft,” Kara marvelled, running a finger across Lena’s cheekbone.

“And you’re the girl of steel,” Lena murmured. “Hopefully that means we complement each other.”

“I think we do,” Kara said, running her thumb over Lena’s cheek gently.

“Me too,” Lena said. She scooched a little closer, and Kara sighed in satisfaction as their bodies touched, melding together.

“Good night, _zhao_,” Kara said, absently.

“Good night, darling,” Lena replied, her eyes already closing as Kara continued to stroke her face gently. They were both asleep in minutes.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have been trying to write bits of fics for a while now and haven't been very successful. While having a look through some of my drafts, though, I realised that I had written the majority of a chapter for this fic and I tidied it up to publish it. I can make no promises about next chapters, but if it's at all possible with my broken brain, I will finish this and all my unfinished fics. 
> 
> Sláinte
> 
> Kellsbells


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